Putting a latch or a lock on a door is not that difficult. If you have a tool (nothing extra expensive or unusual is needed), you can do it in 30-40 minutes. And this is without experience. We will talk further about how to embed a lock into an interior door and how to install a latch.

Tools for inserting locks and latches

Embedding a lock into an interior door is not that difficult, but you will need the following tools for the job:

Not such an expensive and rare instrument. If you don’t have a drill and a crown, you can buy it at any construction supermarket or market. Since we will not be drilling into stone, there is no need to buy too expensive ones - ordinary crowns or wood drills.

Ready-made set for inserting locks into interior doors (on wood): feather drill, holder, crown

A few words about what is better - a crown or a feather drill. Cutting a hole in a door for a lock is easier and faster with a crown, and there are fewer chips. But working at the end with a crown is not so convenient, and the hole is larger than necessary. Drilling with a pen takes a little longer and there are more chips, but it’s easier to control the process. In general, there is no big difference, but most often, the hole in the canvas is made with a crown, and in the end - with a feather. But you can use a pen everywhere.

Another point: a standard crown has a diameter of 25 mm, and a hole of 22-23 mm is needed for the lock. The extra 2 mm can be easily covered by decorative trims, but with a very narrow door these extra millimeters can become critical.

How to embed a lock into an interior door: step-by-step photos

Before installing a lock or latch, you need to determine the height at which the handles will be located. The recommended height is 90-110 cm. A lock or latch is usually placed in this gap. But when installing a lock into an MDF door, you should not install the lock higher than a meter. The fact is that in budget models the wooden plank into which the lock is installed is 1 meter high. Higher up there will only be emptiness and you will have to re-drill the hole and figure out how to close the resulting hole. Once we have decided on the height, we can begin installation.

Recess for the locking part

Before embedding the lock into the interior door, mark the selected height on the door. Make this more convenient using a tape measure. We place a mark at the end and transfer it using a square or building level to both sides of the door leaf.

1. Take the lock/latch and apply it to the end of the door so that the middle of the lock falls on the drawn line. We mark the width of the metal locking part and the level at which the lining ends.
   
2. We take a 16 mm feather drill and apply it to the part of the lock that will be inserted into the door leaf. Using a marker or masking tape, or a piece of electrical tape, make a mark on the drill. This mark should be slightly further than the lock. We will use it to guide us to what depth to make the holes. This is especially important if the lock is installed against glass. Otherwise, you may drill too deep and damage the glass.

   

   We put a mark on the feather drill - this way we will control the drilling depth

3. Having installed a feather drill, we make several holes one under the other, forming a recess for the lock. The number of holes depends on the size of the lock. In some models 4-6 are enough, in others you will need 8-10.
4. The edges of the holes were uneven, and the wood had lifted in places. We take a chisel and remove the protruding wood fibers from the edges, working lightly and in depth (but don’t get too carried away).

   

5. We take a regular 16 mm drill and put it in the drill. Use it to align the edges of the hole made. To do this, move it up and down, pressing lightly on one side or the other of the notch. This operation is needed to speed up the process, but the drill must be strictly controlled. If you are unsure, it is better to level the notch using a chisel and mallet.

   

6. Insert the lock into the resulting hole. It is usually a little larger, so there are no problems. If necessary, using a chisel or drill it can be increased to the desired size.
7. We set the lock to the desired position and attach it to the door leaf using two self-tapping screws (one at the top, the other at the bottom).

   

8. Using a pencil or a utility knife, trace the perimeter of the lock lining. We remove the lock, take a chisel and remove 1-2 mm of wood, MDF or veneer inside the markings made.

The depth of the recess for the locking part depends on the thickness of the decorative strip. Usually they try to make sure that the strip is flush with the end of the door, but it may protrude a little. Shoot little by little as you work—it’s easier to edit it than to try to restore what you shot.

We put the handles

To finish installing the lock on the interior door, you need to make holes for installing handles. The work is much less than what has already been done, but accuracy is required. The mistakes are not too critical, although it is better to try to avoid them.

The handles come complete with self-tapping screws for wooden doors and tie bolts for installation in a metal door. It is better to replace the self-tapping screws from the kit - they are usually made of soft metal. Unless you bought a branded foreign lock, in which the screws are hardened. And so, buy several good screws with a diameter of 1.5-2 mm and a length of about 1 cm.

Some models have decorative overlays. We align them using a square.

Installing the lock latch

Locks for interior doors usually have a rotating latch on one side that locks the lock, and on the other side there is only a lining with a slot. That is, you can’t just open the door from the outside—you need a special key. Installing this part of the lock takes literally a couple of minutes, but there are some nuances.

That's it, inserting the lock into the interior door is almost finished, all that remains is to check the work.

Mate insert

The counter part must be installed clearly so that the doors do not play and there are no problems with closing. Therefore, we try to mark as accurately as possible and take a sharpened pencil.

You know everything about how to fit a lock into an interior door. The description takes up a lot of space, the process itself takes 25-30 minutes if you’re doing it for the first time. It will take more time if you level the holes with a chisel rather than with a drill. But the total duration will still not be more than an hour.

Latch installation features

It is not very often that a full-fledged lock is installed on interior doors. More often you have to install a latch - a handle with a tongue. It is smaller in size and inserting it is much faster and easier.

Installing a latch on an interior door is even faster and easier than a lock. There is very little work. You can do it in 20 minutes. And this is completely without experience.

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

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

The design of handles of this type is such that, regardless of appearance, they are all installed in the door leaf in the same way. This article will tell you how to do it yourself.

Latch handle design

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

or like this:

All these latch handles essentially consist of two parts - the handle itself:

and the latch mechanism:

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

Latch handles come without a latch - a door with such handles cannot be locked from the inside, with a latch - an additional turning mechanism installed on the handle and allowing you to lock the door from the inside, and a key - on one side of the handle there is a key holder that allows you to lock the door from the outside, on the other there is a latch . All handles have design differences that do not in any way affect the insertion process. The internal 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.

Necessary tool

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

1. Hand drill or screwdriver.
2. Wood crown with a diameter of 50 mm.
3. Wood drill with a diameter of 23-24 mm.
4. Chisel.
5. Hammer.
6. Pencil.

The crown and drill can be purchased separately, or in the form of a set, which is called “Kit for inserting latch handles.”

Installing the latch handle

1. We begin the installation process by marking the door leaf for drilling. The marking diagram, as a rule, comes complete with the handle.

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

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

3. Using a chisel, hollow out a three-millimeter recess under the face plate of the latch. It makes sense to first mark the center with an awl so that you don’t have to mark it again.

4. Using a crown with a diameter of 50 mm, drill a through hole. 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. Move on to the side edge. Using a wood drill with a diameter of 23-24 mm, drill a hole for the latch into the marked center. You shouldn’t make it too deep, otherwise you risk drilling through the door all the way to the panel.

7. We now have two holes.

8. Install a 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:

10. Remove the decorative trim 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. Put on the decorative trim and handle body. Don't forget to press the inner tongue with the key.

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

15. Insert a decorative plastic pocket.

16. Screw on the metal plate.

17. The handle is installed.

If you don’t have a 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 untrained person.

If a lock is mandatory on entrance doors, then interior doors, as a rule, are not equipped with locks. However, quite often there is a need to provide this or that room with an “increased level of privacy”, and in this case it is impossible to do without a lock.

Of course, you can call “specially trained people” and ask them to install a lock on the interior doors, but why spend extra money when you can do such work yourself. Let’s not lie, this task is not so simple, but nevertheless quite feasible. So, we cut the lock into the interior doors with our own hands.

Different models of locks: main features

There are several types of locks for interior doors.

First of all, they differ in the location of the keyhole. The most popular are locks with a hole located under the handle, and with a hole located directly on it (such locks are called nobs).

The simplest lock for self-mortise

There are also systems without a lock, but with a latch, which allow you to lock the door on only one side.

The easiest ones to install on your own are knock-off locks.

In addition, locks may differ in the way the tongue is secured. And although the fixing option does not affect the insertion technology, we nevertheless list the main ones:

• Roller - operates due to rollers and springs;
• The halyard is a reed mechanism that secures the latch;
• Magnetic - the tongue attracts a magnet, and the spring blocks its movement.

Features of inserting locks into doors made of different materials

The technology for inserting a lock depends not only on its design, but also on the material from which the door is made.

The simplest, one might say “classical” technology is used when installing a lock on a door made of solid wood. In this case, it is enough to simply make all the corresponding recesses and holes, without particularly worrying about the various nuances.

The location of the lock when installing it in a wooden door does not matter.

When inserting a lock into an MDF door, be sure to take into account that such doors are hollow inside, and a special additional block for insertion is located at a height of exactly 1 meter from the floor. If you try to make a hole for the lock higher or lower, you will simply ruin the door leaf. Otherwise, the technology for inserting a lock into an MDF door does not differ from the “classic” one.

It is unlikely that you will be able to install a mortise lock on metal doors or doors made of PVC profiles yourself. This work requires certain skills and special tools, so it is better to entrust the solution of such problems to professionals.

Required Tools

In addition to the “standard” set of tools for working with wood, you will also need a set of crowns for cutting round holes in the wood. Without them, installing a lock on the door will be, if not impossible, then very problematic.

Using crowns you can make holes of various diameters

In addition to the piers (as circular crowns are called), you will need the following tools:

• drill or screwdriver with drilling function;
• hammer;
• chisel;
• screwdriver;
• roulette;
• pencil.

To conclude this section, I would like to say that there is a special tool for cutting locks, called a milling cutter. Of course, it doesn’t make sense to buy it to install one, two or even five locks, but if suddenly one of your friends happens to have such a device, then it will significantly facilitate the work of installing a lock. We will not focus on the technology of working with a milling cutter, but we suggest you simply watch a short video that clearly demonstrates the operation of this tool.

Video: inserting a lock using a router

Knob lock insertion technology

As already mentioned, the simplest technology is to insert a nob lock into an interior door, that is, a lock in which the keyhole is located directly on the door handle.

Knob lock standard equipment

Using the same technology, you can install a lock with a one-way latch.

The first step is to determine the location of the future castle. To do this, go to the door and “pull” the imaginary handle. Exactly the place to which your hand will reach will be optimal for installation.

If you follow the standard location of the door handle, then it must be placed at a height of one meter from the floor.

Having determined the height of the lock, it is necessary to make precise markings. To do this, measure the distance from the lining in which the lock tongue is located to the center of the hole into which the rotary mechanism will subsequently be inserted. It is this distance that needs to be measured from the edge of the door leaf at the height you choose.

Now you need to choose a crown of suitable diameter. It should be smaller than the decorative trim under the handle, but at the same time large enough for the lock mechanism to fit into the resulting hole without effort.

There are special sets of crowns designed specifically for inserting locks - nobs. They include only two nozzles of just the diameter you need.

Now we drill a through hole in the door with the selected crown and the first stage of work on inserting the lock can be considered complete.

Drilling a hole with a core bit

The crown is removed along with unnecessary wood

All that remains is to drill a hole in the end of the door into which the locking mechanism will fit. When selecting a crown, follow the same rules as in the first case.

Please note that if, when drilling the first hole, a slight discrepancy in height with the markings made is not critical, then the second hole must be drilled exactly at the level that coincides with the center of the first. Otherwise, you simply will not be able to assemble the castle.

The end hole is drilled at the level of the center of the first

When both holes are ready, all that remains is to make a small recess in the end of the door into which the decorative trim will lie. To do this, attach the overlay to its location, outline it with a pencil and, using a small chisel, “select” a layer of wood that is equal to the thickness of the overlay.

Marking for the recess for the end plate

Now all that remains is to assemble the castle.

First, insert a part of the lock with a locking tongue into the hole in the end of the door. After this, insert the lock core with one of the handles into the socket, which should be in the center of the first hole.

Lock assembly

We put a second handle on the protruding part of the core on the other side of the door.

When assembling the lock, make sure that the handle with the stopper is on the correct side of the door.

If the lock works, all that remains is to fasten the entire structure using the included screws and self-tapping screws.

After checking, the lock is secured with screws and self-tapping screws

How to embed a lock with a hole under the handle

The insertion of a “classic” lock with a keyhole located under the handle differs from the installation of a knob lock only in the size of the end hole. It must be significantly larger to accommodate the entire lock mechanism.

It is most convenient to make such holes with a router, but if you don’t have one, you can easily get by with a “handy tool.”

Making an end hole with a router

At the selected height, attach the outer lock lining to the end of the door and trace its outline with a pencil. Now select a crown whose diameter will be slightly smaller than the width of the drawn outline. Next, you need to “drill out” the space needed to insert the lock mechanism. To do this, first make several adjacent holes to a depth equal to the width of the locking mechanism, after which the remaining wood at the intersection of the holes is removed using a chisel.

If you don't have a crown, you can use a regular large-diameter wood drill.

When the main end recess is ready, the lock mechanism is inserted into it so that the rotating core rests against the end of the door.

A mark is made at this point and a straight line is drawn through it using a square.

On the resulting segment from the edge of the door, measure a distance equal to the distance from the outer edge of the mechanism to the center of the core. It is at this point that the second hole is drilled using a crown.

When both holes are ready, all that remains is to assemble the lock in accordance with the instructions included with it.

Video: inserting a lock into an interior door

In conclusion, we bring to your attention a short story about inserting a lock into an interior door. We hope this video material will help you finally understand all the intricacies and nuances of this technology.

If you have all the necessary tools, inserting a lock into an interior door is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. But if you are not confident in your abilities, we recommend that you practice on an old door and only then proceed with the “finish” insertion. Good luck with your renovation!

Installing doors in a doorway is a task that requires prudence and accuracy. But this door will not close without a lock. It cannot be opened without a handle. Embedding a lock into a wooden door means protecting yourself and your property from strangers, keeping you warm in the winter, and making the interior more interesting.

Mortise lock in a wooden door

How to install a lock on a wooden front door? To do this, you first need to prepare. Wood is a material that can be easily finished, but it requires experience working with wood flooring. You should know the type of wood and its abilities. To install a lock in a door you need:

The work involves stages that should be performed sequentially. If you don't follow certain, simple rules, the lock may stay in place, but will it work?

A selection of locks for wooden doors

Before choosing a lock, you need to answer questions about the lock:

Door locks are divided into types - rack, code, electronic, cylinder, lever. The rack lock is a simple design that is easy to break, you can break it yourself, and has a primitive appearance.

Cylinder lock – inside the lock there are cylinders located at different heights. If the element is not in its position, the lock will not open.

When forced, the lock is drilled or the core is knocked out. But, manufacturers add special elements to the lock material, against which the drill bit breaks. Such a lock has a long service life, is easy to change, and may have special plates, which are also a barrier for a burglar.

This is what a cylinder mortise lock looks like

The lever lock is a reliable design. This type of lock is practically unbreakable. To open without a key, a professional uses 2 master keys. Inside the lock there are levers that are driven by a key.


Combination lock – to open the lock, you must enter a specific code. This lock cannot be installed on a wooden door.


Electronic lock – does not have a keyhole. It has one button to open, which is located indoors. To open without a button, there must be a signal from the side.


Once the issue of the lock has been resolved, you can begin to assemble the necessary tools.

Tools for cutting a lock into a wooden door

In order to embed the lock into the door, you will need to make a groove for the lock. After which the mechanism is installed. To do this you will need a cutting tool:

Set of tools for inserting a lock into a door

All these tools will be needed to install a mortise lock. To install the overlay mechanism, you will need a slightly different set of tools.

The process of making a lock groove

Before embedding the lock into the door, you need to take measurements and markings to cut out the groove. The instructions for the purchased lock indicate the different distance at which the handle should be located from the lock. This distance ranges from 95 to 100 cm, but many craftsmen correlate this distance with the height of the people living in the apartment or house. The taller the person, the higher the castle should be.
Making a groove for a lock:

1. Let's say the height is 95 cm. It should be measured from the floor up.

   

   Distance to the lock from the floor

2. Next, you need to take the lock and place it in the place where the mark is placed, with the side that will be attached to the door. The lock mechanism needs to be outlined with a pencil.
   
   
3. The hole for the lock is cut along the marked lines with a feather drill, the width of which coincides with the width of the lock bar. There are 2 methods for cutting the groove here. First: carefully, slowly move the drill inside the door 2 cm to the mark. Second: immediately drill the desired groove.
4. The cut hole should be slightly larger than the width of the locking mechanism (by 2mm). This will allow the lock to enter the door calmly (without the use of physical force).
5. You need to level the edges of the hole with a hammer or chisel.
6. After this, you need to insert the lock into the resulting groove. It should enter the nest without hindrance.
7. Next, you should mark the holes for the lock strip. To do this, you need to attach it to the door and circle it with a pencil.

   

   Marking the holes for the lock plate

8. Using the markings made with a chisel and hammer, a recess is made, the depth of which is equal to the thickness of the plank. There is no need to make the notch larger, but you also can’t make it smaller.
   

After the work has been done, you need to carefully and carefully try on everything. If there are any errors, they should be carefully removed with a sharp knife or chisel. So that nothing interferes with the insertion of the locking mechanism into the door.
When working with a drill, you need to keep the tool level. If the work is done at a degree of inclination, then the groove may be uneven.

The reliability of metal doors will never replace the beauty and environmental friendliness of their wooden counterparts. However, such products have their own characteristics, and they also relate to the installation of locks. You can even do this kind of work with your own hands if you know how to do it.

Required tools and components

Inserting locks into wooden panels requires the use of:

• wood drill;
• a set of steel crowns;
• a set of chisels;
• roulette;
• construction pencil;
• screwdrivers - slotted and Phillips;
• drills;
• screwdrivers;
• hammer.

The selection of the lock plays a very important role. In this case, they focus on the size of the structure. An excessively thick lock will not allow the required mass of wood to be provided on the left and right sides. If there is less than 1 cm of wood left there, the door will not be strong enough. A kick is enough for the entire canvas to crack.

Additionally, it is necessary to control the depth of the lock entry. Some of the canvases are thicker on the outside than in the center. The glazed part can also present difficulties. If you have to prepare a place to insert a large lock, it is easy to deform the material. As for fasteners, they must be selected in accordance with the instructions from the manufacturers.

Often you can't get by with a drill or angle grinder. The optimal device for inserting locks into doors made of solid wood or other wooden materials is considered to be a manual router. Although "almost ready" lock mortise kits are relatively inexpensive, professionals advise choosing each tool individually. This allows you to finally be sure of its quality (both when purchasing and when renting). In addition, this solution helps to save money.

Sequence of work

If the product is selected properly, you need to correctly embed the lock into the wooden door. They start by applying the lock to one of the sides, in the right place. Using a construction marker, trace the part - using the drawn lines you can finally determine whether the choice of lock and location is correct. If there are no errors, the position is marked on the end face of the door. When the set contains a special paper template, use it.

Take a feather drill, the thickness of which is chosen very carefully. Then, using a screwdriver, passes are prepared to form a vertical line. The outer edges of the holes must be mutually adjacent. If the required drill is not available, smaller drills can be used. They arrange holes in 2 or 3 tiers.

Now you need to take a chisel, which allows you to remove excess wood. A slotted screwdriver is a substitute for a chisel, but such a tool is not convenient enough. Then they insert the product into the prepared place, trace the end strip with a marker and pull out the closing part. Strictly along the line, 0.2 - 0.3 cm of wood is removed. This will allow the lock to be deepened into the door, placing the bar flush.

This technique is used when installing locks to prevent the strip from hitting the surface of the box. If the gap is large enough, you can skip this stage. The next step is to mark on both sides the space for the key hole or for the lock cylinder. If the structure has handles, marks are also made for them. The lock is pulled out and drilled in the marked places.

Now you can insert the lock back and evaluate the correctness of the prepared holes. The larva (if any) is fixed with a screw from the end. Next, insert the square base from the handles, screw the handles themselves. The key is inserted and the lock is immediately checked. Opening and closing should be easy, without the key rubbing against the wood.

Then it’s time to mark the holes for the crossbar elements and the striker plate. The easiest way to do this is to do it yourself using paste. When the door is fully open, the lock is locked and the end of one or more bolts is lubricated. Next, you need to open the bolt, close the door, and lock the lock. Normally it will not lock, however, paste tracks will appear. They will indicate how and where to make the holes for the counter block. They are drilled immediately to eliminate mistakes.

A counter plate is applied to the holes and a mark is made along its contour with a pencil. Using a chisel, remove part of the wood. This will deepen the bar. All that remains is to secure it. Now the door is closed and the lock is checked again. When everything works fine, decorative overlays are installed. That's it, you can enjoy excellent results. There is nothing complicated about this.

To ensure an exact match between the actual and planned depth of the holes, electrical tape is glued to the drill. You can select the remaining wood with a chisel. Later the walls are leveled with a chisel. We must strive for groove sizes that will allow the inserted lock to coincide with the end face of the door. This means that when hollowing out a socket, periodic fittings of the product are required.

To make a shaped groove for a keyhole, you need to use a hacksaw. The edges are brought to an ideal shape using sandpaper. Since they are not comfortable enough to work by hand, you can attach the paper to a screwdriver. It is best to use a thin drill bit. The installation of the strike plate for mortise and overlay mechanisms is no different.

It is recommended to choose a drill bit that is thicker than the lock. Usually several notches are drilled so that the web filler can be removed. When drilling is completed, use a chisel and chisel to remove excess debris. But all these rules may turn out to be useless if one more principle is not followed: as soon as something is measured with a tape measure, you must immediately mark it with a pencil or marker. Relying on your memory in such a responsible matter is extremely frivolous.

Handle type lock mortise

This manipulation definitely deserves a separate analysis. Experts recommend playing it safe and sealing the end of the door, as well as its surface, with masking tape. This should be done to prevent possible damage. As practice has shown, it is much more convenient to apply individual marks on the tape. And it will also serve as a clearly visible boundary, which you absolutely must not cross during work.

It is recommended to install lock handles at a height of strictly 100 cm above the floor. This type of lock must always be supplied with a template. Therefore, there are no special problems in marking. Since cylinder mechanisms can be different in size, you need to look for a suitable crown only after purchasing the lock. When using a template, do this:

• it is bent carefully along the line of the door protrusion;
• applied from the end side;
• make marks showing the centers of the holes.

In these places a hole is drilled in the plane of the door. It is not advisable to pierce through it. As soon as the guide drill comes out from the opposite side, they pause and start drilling with a crown from the inside out. This approach is truly professional and avoids splitting the wood. Then it's time to prepare the holes for the latch.

At the same time, they work in the marked places with a 2.3 cm drill bit. You need to go to the previous hole. The drill is held strictly at an angle of 90 degrees to the door. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the latch will jam and work poorly. When the passage is ready, the latch is inserted into it.

Now you need to align the location of the element with respect to the edge. A pencil will help you trace the outline of the decorative frame. Next, removing the latch with a utility knife, cut the canvas along this line. When this work is completed, using a chisel, select a secret cavity, which should be slightly smaller in size than the latch frame. You cannot clean out the cavity initially; this may result in damage to the film with a chisel.

Having prepared the groove, return the product to its place, tightening the latch with self-tapping screws. The holes for them are drilled in advance with a 2 mm drill. If the part moves slowly, you need to trim the contacting places. The assembly of the handle itself is done according to the manufacturer's instructions. It is imperative to pay attention to how the tongue is positioned (normally it always faces inside the room).

To learn how to embed a lock into a wooden door with your own hands, watch the following video.