Help with Lock-Extender
Hello, I live in an apartment building and our second exterior door is a beautiful old wooden one that we all love. We keep having to get the lock fixed and the latest locksmith said that the door is thicker than modern doors and regular locks/handles will keep needing repair. He has heard of a…
Hello,
I live in an apartment building and our second exterior door is a beautiful old wooden one that we all love. We keep having to get the lock fixed and the latest locksmith said that the door is thicker than modern doors and regular locks/handles will keep needing repair. He has heard of a “lock extender” but can’t find one.
Does anyone have any ideas about how to solve this problem? We also would need a handle and faceplate.
Thanks in advance with any help on this!
First of all, most of the real locksmiths in NYC are retired and or dead. There are very few craftsmen left. I can count them on one hand. All that those remaing know how to do is drill out locks and butcher doors.
You need to order a complete mortise lock body and trim that is sized for your particular door thickness. Your problem has nothing to do with getting long mortise cylinders, etc. It will be cheaper to do the job properly one time then do continually have to mess around with the lock. I am certain that each ridiculous follow-up visit is not free.
The most cost-effective and well made are Marks. Adding a ‘D10’ to the end of a mortise lockset part number will have the factory prep the hardware for a 2 1/2″ door. They can handle up to a 3″ door which is the thickest you will probably ever see (Code D11). Also, considering this is a front door don’t be cheap and get Grade 1 hardware. The cost difference is minimal.
How to order Marks mortise locks:
http://marksusa.com/getDocument.php?id=925
I just measured it. The door is 2 1/2″. I just looked at it and it was a mortise lock, but that is all patched over and there are holes cut now for a cylinder lock. But now I’ve read that mortise locks are better with heavier doors, so I kind of wonder if that’s the problem.
But, yes, the locksmith is saying the spindles on standard door sets are too short.
Sorry to be so stupid about all this stuff. I, unfortunately, wasn’t the one to speak with the locksmith, so I’m doing this a little bit blind.
The lock on that door is linked to our buzzer system, in case that makes any difference.
Thanks a ton for the info so far. The link from dibs definitely has some options and we’ll keep looking. It’s already sad to see how this poor door has been mishandled in the past!
You may want to talk to a good carpenter or builder of custom doors instead of jokers pretending to be locksmiths. Sounds like you need a good quality mortise lock installed. My doors are 3″ thick, and the mortise lock takes a 1 1/2″ cylinder. You can get mortise cylinders at up to 2″ at least (the price jumps quite a bit for anything longer than 1 3/8, but they exist), and the handle hardware etc. is out there for big thick doors (there are a few million of them still in existence both here and in Europe). I used Omnia hardware for the door, but any high end hardware maker should have models designed for thicker doors.
Bottom line is you probably need to spend $300-500 (or more) for the proper equipment, but installed properly, it will last forever. Unfortunately I don’t have any good rec’s. The guy who built my door is no longer around.
Can you be more specific?? I’m not sure what the issue of the door thickness is. Is this an issue of not having a spindle long enough so that you can screw the set screw in to hold the handle??
Longer spindles (and other parts) can be found here…
http://houseofantiquehardware.com/s.nl/sc.10/category.53/.f