Locksmith and Lockset for 3" Entrance Door
So in my ongoing crusade to finish my house, I am looking to put a stronger lockset in my front door. I have this very thick 3″ (or maybe 2 7/8) door which is too heavy for the standard mortise handset with turn-knob currently (poorly) installed. Anyone have a recommendation for a good locksmith? And…
So in my ongoing crusade to finish my house, I am looking to put a stronger lockset in my front door. I have this very thick 3″ (or maybe 2 7/8) door which is too heavy for the standard mortise handset with turn-knob currently (poorly) installed. Anyone have a recommendation for a good locksmith? And should I buy the lockset myself, or is that something I order through a good locksmith. (The kind I am looking at – with the thumb lever and pull handle – seem to run about 500-600 online). Thanks!
With the modern technology and facilities available in the market today you will definitely have the ease securing your homes or business establishments through the use of automatic alarms, surveillance cameras, emergency locks, and expensive control systems. But in cases in which you have a tight budget, why stick to what is costly. Be practical. There are other ways and services that you can avail to secure your homes. With this, there are a variety of offers in Washington DC locksmith services that, for sure, will provide answers to all your security needs.
As a former locksmith I take offence to the thought that we are butchers on wood doors. Baldwin is pretty straight forward. Try to remember that a lot of locksmiths rely on the sale of the lock to justify the price of the service. Most mortise lock companies like cookie-cutter door thickness (i.e. 1 3/4). Baldwin loves thick doors. The other very labor intensive but very secure way to go is one of the multilatching hardware locks. The european locks are about to become vogue. And the trim packs are funky to very traditional. Hire a locksmith but check around for one adept in the instalation you desire.
Sully
I had the same issue. I went with Baldwin and it was not cheap, but, as I recall, I could not find find a reasonably priced set to handle problem. I like nice hardware, its a splurge but , in the long run its worth it.
As for installation, I did it myself, and its not working smoothly and I need to redo it. A lot of the problem is in the door and original (damaged) mortise cut out.
As for ordering, if you have figured it out this far, you can do it. Locksmiths are installers and don’t want to waste their time on a custom order.
Two schools of thought. My neighbor ordered the lockset himself, saving a lot of money in the process. But then the locksmith ran into problems putting it in, wrong sized cylinder, had to send the part back, wait for a replacement, blah, blah, blah. If you let the locksmith order the lock, you will pay a markup, but then he will have no one to blame for any slip ups. Mortise locks can be a real pain in the butt installing, there is no one set size, so unless you’re doing the work yourself, I personally would have the locksmith do it and save myself the headaches.
Brian
Thanks for the tips southslope.
And 4:50 – why don’t you check my posts, and you will see that I have been brutally honest about the challenges of living – most recently I described it as “the worst part of Clinton Hill.” We are really doing our best to keep the forum snark-free. My concerns of doing the job myself were more as to the look than the security, but now that you mention, I would like the lock to work! I suspect we all want our front doors to work, don’t we? Have a great day, 4:50.
Thanks for the tips southslope.
And 4:50 – why don’t you check my posts, and you will see that I have been brutally honest about the challenges of living – most recently I described it as “the worst part of Clinton Hill.” We are really doing our best to keep the forum snark-free. My concerns of doing the job myself were more as to the look than the security, but now that you mention, I would like the lock to work! I suspect we all want our front doors to work, don’t we? Have a great day, 4:50.
If you are going with the same configuration (knob or lever) as you have now, it is just a matter of switching the old for the new. I have found that most locksmiths are butchers when it comes to wood. If you want a Baldwin lock you can get it at 40% off list here:
http://www.precisiondoors.com/estate.htm
But I thought you always insisted your neighborhood was perfectly safe and anyone who said otherwise was a racist who ought to move to the suburbs.
So you recommend ordering it, then hiring locksmith to install? (I’ve installed a few locks myself, but it is the front door…)