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slateberry

Tips on installing a mortise entry set myself?

slateberry
15 years ago

So, I've drooled over a new lockset for my front door. I showed my husband my favorite one. At $750, he hit the ceiling. After all, at that price it's cosmetic, not functional, right?

Fast forward a few months. The existing entry set, which appears to be the cheapest possible installed by the previous owner, is falling apart. Apparently time softens the edges, because my husband says, as long as we're going to get a new set, we might as well take a look at the one you like again. (!) At which point I announce to my family I will forego birthday, Christmas, and Mother's day presents for the next 5 years if we get it. This had the interesting side effect of really impressing my kids. They already think I'm kind of weird. I mean, can you imagine telling a kid, "Here sweetie, if you give up all presents for the next five years, you can have a really pretty doorknob for your bedroom." Not bloody likely. But, it works for me.

So, we look at it again, I swoon, again. He complains that it doesn't have egress. What's egress? The mate of egret? OK, it's the ability to lock the door from the inside, walk out, and shut it behind you, already locked, without having to stop, pull out your key, and lock it behind you. For $750 I agree it ought to be able to do that. Heck, some of the cheapest entry sets can. So, we call the company. It's a $400 upgrade (!). At this point, my husband is directed to the website of the upgrade mechanism, and he is impressed. Function reigns again. He is willing to fork out for the upgrade. Ah, to be married to an engineer...

Time passes and we wait for the quote from the hardware company. Finally, I get a call from the CSR that has taken "my case": turns out her boss is sick of having to special order the upgrade, egress version of the mechanism, and it is now the default, stock version. (wow, could there actually be more engineering suckers out there demanding the upgrade? Boggles me mind.) For some reason, the final price is now 1,030, which is happily less than the previous price plus custom upcharge. Even better, I have a 15% off discount code.

So, it's on the way, and I want to at least try to install it myself. I figure the service call from the local locksmith would normally be around $100, and when they see this set, they'll double it. The point is, I spent all my money on the lock, so I now have less money to pay them, not more. Sigh.

I've taken apart and repaired/restored some of the 100+ year old interior door hardware in our house, I figure, why not at least give this a try? So, are there any warnings/gotchas, or should I just jump in?

Oh, and here's what the guts of the entry set look like:

Here is a link that might be useful: Click on

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