Interior Door Knob Replacement Question

[Jeffy3]

Over ten years ago I pretty much replaced all the doorknobs in our house as the old ones were corroded or scuzzy looking. Our house is over 50 years old and the hole in each door was sort of just a small half moon shape, or half circle shape, that the spindle went through and then there were the two small round holes for the screws to connect the two sides of the knob. Replacing them 10 years ago was easy. Now, recently I had to replace another one and I went to two different stores and it seems the standard now is the hole in the door is a large couple inch circle. Am I right that this is the new standard? Or does anyone know if I can still get the doorknobs that fit the smaller half- moon door hole?

[David Nebenzahl]

On 2/13/2009 10:48 AM Jeffy3 spake thus:

You can, but not at the places you're looking.

Building supply stores, whether chain "borgs" like Home Despot or decent, locally-owned lumberyards, won't have old door hardware like yours. You need to find a used or recycled building materials store. I have no idea if there are any in your area, but if you live in or near a metropolitan area of any decent size, there'll likely be one or more of these places around.

I just bought a new-old lockset for a door I'm adding to a client's house. Paid $50 for it, at a high-end building salvage business (Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley, CA), but it was well worth it.

[Jeffy3]

I wonder when the standard changed? Like I said I bought new ones around ten years ago at the borg chains and had no problem.

[HeyBub]

The company that made half-moon drill bits went out of business?

[Colbyt]

Sounds like old mortise style locks.

The last time I needed one, believe it or not, K-mart of all places stocked the glass knobs. I have also seen the glass ones at Lowes.

If you are looking for the brass plated ones I surmise that Google is your best friend.

A salvage yard might yield some real brass ones that you could shine up.

[Jeffy3]

I'm not sure what you mean. I wasn't talking anything about the locks.

[Jeff Wisnia]

There's plenty of the older style cast brass and/or glass doorknobs available on eBay, like these:

About 7 years ago I adapted an antique doorknob onto the inside of the modern lockset on our home's front door. I liked the finished appearance so much I got carried away and during the next few months I did the same thing for almost every other doorknob in our home:

Jeff

[David Nebenzahl]

On 2/13/2009 1:52 PM Jeffy3 spake thus:

So what exactly do you need--the entire lock? Or just the knobs? Not clear from your post.

[Colbyt]

I'm not sure what you mean. I wasn't talking anything about the locks.

I thought you were looking for door knobs / handles.

Did I mis-read your post?

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds like Kwikset brand, to me. You can either buy more Kwikset, or you can have some like a locksmith drill the proper cross bore hole so that you won't have this problem again.

[Stormin Mormon]

The standard is the same. Problem is, your door prep isn't standard. Go with the standard cross bore and edge bore, and nearly any brand of door knob will fit.

The big box stores carry different brands, now. They are more standard.

[DT]

The standard has been changed for at least 40 years. I've done doors that long and have never used anything but the standard lockset with the 2" through hole. I have come across the old style on doors in older homes.

[Stormin Mormon]

Which brands use the 2" through hole? I've never used one, in 20 years of locksmithing.

[DT]

Oh, come on Stormin. Schlage, Kwikset, Defiant, they all use the 2" hole through the door face, and a 7/8" hole in the edge. You use an installation set like this one to drill the holes, adjustable for either a 2 3/8" or 2 3/4" backset. Every new pre-hung door I have ever seen comes pre-drilled with a 2" hole for each lockset and dead bolt. Are we talking about different things, here?

[DanG]

The requested hole is 2 1/8", I'm sure that is what he is referencing.

[DT]

Ahh, OK. The hole saw in my installation set that I measured looks like 2", but I won't quibble over 1/8". But at any rate, nothing like the locksets the original poster was asking about.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 2/15/2009 9:45 AM DT spake thus:

It is 2-1/8". I recently had to bore two such holes, so I know that for sure.

I also learned, the hard way, that you should always bore these holes from both sides, instead of all the way through from one side.