Installing a door handle-lock in an interior door

Recommendation points

• Latch handle design
• Required tool
• Installing the latch handle

This article will help you figure out how to cut a latch handle into a door leaf. Adhering to the work algorithm described in the article, you can easily do this operation yourself, with a minimum set of tools and very quickly.

No door is complete without a handle. The most popular type of handle for interior doors today is the latch handle..

The design of this type of handles is such that, regardless of their appearance, they are all installed in the door leaf in the same way. How to do it yourself will be described in this article..

Latch handle design

The handle itself, that is, the visible part of it, can look completely different. So:

or like this:

All of these handles-latches consist, in fact, of two parts – the handle itself:

and latch mechanism:

Both parts of the latch handle require a separate cut into the door leaf.

Latch handles are available without a latch – a door with such handles cannot be locked from the inside, with a latch – an additional pivot mechanism installed on the handle and allows you to lock the door from the inside, and with a key – a turnkey mask on one side of the handle that allows you to lock the door from the outside, on the other, a latch … All handles have design differences that do not affect the insertion process in any way. The inner part (latch) is also the same, that is, it cuts in the same way for all types of latch handles.

So let’s get started.

Required tool

To make the installation of the latch handle as easy as possible, you will need:

1. Hand drill or screwdriver.
2. Crown for wood with a diameter of 50 mm.
3. Drill for wood with a diameter of 23-24 mm.
4. Chisel.
5. A hammer.
6. Pencil.

The crown and drill can be purchased separately, or as a set, which is called “Set for inserting snap handles”.

Installing the latch handle

1. The installation process begins with the marking of the door leaf for drilling. Marking scheme, as a rule, comes with a pen.

If there is no scheme, then you can mark it up manually. To do this, put a mark at a distance of 60 mm from the edge of the door.

2. On the side edge of the door along the axial marking line, mark the center for drilling.

3. Using a chisel, gouge a three-millimeter recess under the latch faceplate. It makes sense to pre-mark the center with an awl so that you do not have to re-mark it.

4. Drill a through hole with a 50 mm bit. It is better to do this on both sides of the door to avoid damage to the door covering at the exit of the crown when drilling.

5. As a result, we get the following hole:

6. Go to the side edge. Using a wood drill with a diameter of 23-24 mm, we drill a hole for the latch into the marked center. Do not do it too deeply, otherwise you risk drilling the door right through to the panel.

7. We already get two holes.

8. Install the latch in the side hole and screw it with self-tapping screws.

9. Remove the upper part of the handle. To do this, look for a hole on the side..

Using the included key or any other thin flat object:

press the tongue inside the hole:

and remove the handle itself up:

10. Remove the decorative strip and thereby open the mounting holes.

11. Insert the outer half of the handle.

12. Insert the inner half. We tighten both with the screws included in the kit.

13. We put on a decorative strip and a handle body. Do not forget to press the inner tongue with the key.

14. With the door closed, mark the place where the latch tongue of the door jamb touches, and then gouge in the resulting place a recess for the latch tongue.

15. Insert a decorative plastic pocket.

16. We fasten the metal plate.

17. Handle installed.

If there is no drill, then all the holes can be made using a suitable chisel, however, in this case, installing the handle will require more serious repair and construction skills and may turn out to be an overwhelming task for an unprepared person.