How To Change A Locked Door Knob

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Changing a door lock is necessary when you move into a new home, get a new roommate, or experience a burglary. Information technology tin can as well be a quick, easy way to switch upwards your door's await. If you dear your existing knobs and don't want to replace the unabridged set, y'all tin simply rekey the lock with a kit labelled for its make. Take no fear if your knob lock is fine, but your deadbolt needs to be replaced. Changing a deadbolt is even easier than switching out your knobs.

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Remove the screws from the old lock on the inside of the door. Use a Phillips head screwdriver to unfasten the two or three screws located on the inside knob plate. So remove each side'southward door knob by pulling them away from the door.^[ane]
- You may also need to utilize a wire tool or a newspaper clip. If your knob or lock has no screws on it, insert a paperclip into the minor hole on the side of the doorknob. This should release the knob latch and volition allow you to pull off the knob.^[two]
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Use a lock of the same brand that fits your door. Afterwards removing the knobs, measure the diameter of the lock'south hole and the altitude from its center to the border of the door. Check your current lock'south make, and purchase a lock that matches it and fits the hole's dimensions.^[three]
- You tin find a new lock that meets the measurements you took at a home improvement store, locksmith, or online.
- If you buy the same brand, your new lock will match your other locks, and y'all will virtually likely be able to install it using the existing holes.
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Remove the screws that secure the latch at the edge of the door. The latch is the final piece of lock equipment you need to remove. Unfasten the two screws that concord the latch plate in place. In one case the screws are out, you lot can slide out the latch from the opening in the side of the door.
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Wrap the cardboard template around the door border. A store-bought lock will come with a paper-thin template that shows you exactly how the lock volition fit onto the door.^[4] Place this template over the pigsty in your door and make sure that everything matches up. If the template does non lucifer up exactly with your hole, and so you bought the incorrect lock.
- If you lot bought the wrong lock, accept the old lock that you removed back to the hardware store and ask for help finding a lock that fits your needs.
five
Put the new latch into place. If your template checks out, begin installation by sliding the new latch into the opening on the edge of the door. Drive the new screws through the holes in the latch plate and into the door edge to secure the latch.^[5]
- Information technology's all-time not to reuse your erstwhile screws, since they might exist old and weaker than new screws. If your new lock didn't come up with screws, buy ones that fit the lock and match the colour of your hardware.
6
Put the door lock together. Identify the outside knob (the one with the keyhole) and the inside knob on their respective sides, then slide them through the lock hole toward each other. They should meet in the center and connect. Don't force them together, but let them to slide together easily.^[vi]
- Drive screws into the holes on the inside door knob plate to finish putting the lock back together.
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1
Purchase a kit labelled for your lock'south brand. There are re-keying kits that contain all the tools you'll demand available for near lock brands. One make's kit ordinarily doesn't work for others, so check your lock's brand and buy a kit that matches information technology.^[seven]
- Y'all can notice kits online and at hardware and home improvement shops.
- Read your kit's instructions advisedly, in case there are any small differences specific to your make.
two
Remove the outside door knob. The kit will provide a thin, wire-like tool that you tin can use to remove the knobs. Insert your key into the lock and turn it to unlock the door. Slide the wire tool into the modest hole on the side of the interior door knob. This releases the knobs and will allow you to pull the outside knob out of the lock.^[8]
- Y'all can besides use a stretched out paperclip or pin instead of the tool. If you've lost your fundamental, you'll need to remove the entire lock and bring it to a hardware store or locksmith to have a new key made.
- If your lock doesn't have a side poke hole, you're ameliorate off replacing the whole lock. Your lock is probably complicated plenty that information technology requires a locksmith to rekey.
3
Pop the the cylinder out of the back of the knob. One time you lot've removed the exterior lock confront, expect inside the knob and cheque for whatever sheets of plastic or metal that concur the lock cylinder in identify. Slide them out if any are present, so put pressure level on the key, which is all the same inserted into the keyhole, to popular out the lock cylinder from the dorsum of the knob.^[ix]
- If your see rust or other signs of wear and tear within the lock, yous should only supersede the unabridged lock.^[10]
4

Remove the cylinder retainer ring. Your kit will come with a wrench-like tool that you'll use to remove the servant band that secures the cylinder housing. Slide the tool around the horseshoe-shaped band, then plough the tool to pop off the ring.^[11]
5
Slide the cylinder plug out of the cylinder housing. Your kit will come with a cylinder follower, or a tube-shaped tool, that you can use to slide the plug out of the housing. Push information technology through the cylinder housing from the side contrary the keyhole to popular out the plug.^[12]
- Proceed constant pressure on the plug and follower, and brand certain they're always in contact as you lot slide the plug out, then that the lock pins and springs don't pop out and wing everywhere.^[xiii]
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Remove the old pins from the cylinder plug. On some locks, yous can simply turn the plug over to empty out the old pins. Other locks might crave yous to pluck them out with a set of tiny tweezers supplied in the kit. Check your kit'south instructions to discover out exactly how you should remove your plug'southward sometime pins.^[14]
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Insert the new pins to match the lawmaking in the instructions. In one case you've removed the sometime lock pins, slide the new key (provided in the kit) into the keyhole. The new kit will come with colored or numbered pins, and its instructions will include a code. Utilize the kit'due south tweezers to insert the pins into the plug'south slots and then they lucifer the lawmaking.^[xv]
- For example, the code might list the correct lodge as blue, red, red, bluish, xanthous, starting from the side opposite the keyhole. Correctly installed pins should be affluent with the surface of the plug; they shouldn't stick out over their slots.
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Reassemble the lock. One time the pins are installed, push button the plug back into the cylinder housing. Slide the retainer ring back into place, pop the cylinder back into the door knob, and replace whatever plastic or metallic sheets that secured the cylinder. Push the exterior door back into its slot in the lock, and rotate the key until information technology the knob pops and locks into place.^[sixteen]

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Remove the old deadbolt faceplates. Remove the screws on the inside plate. Once the screws are removed, y'all'll either pull the interior faceplate straight out or rotate it counterclockwise to remove information technology. Then pull out or twist and remove the exterior plate.^[17]
- Information technology's a lilliputian tough to manage, but try to keep a hand on the exterior faceplate when you remove the interior i. On some models, the outside faceplate doesn't screw into place, so it can fall to the floor when you pull out the interior plate.
two
Remove the set plate and bolt. The fix plate and commodities are the final components of the lock, and are fastened to the edge of the door with screws. Remove the screws, then pull out the set up plate and commodities to stop uninstalling the old deadbolt.^[18]
- Sometimes the set plate and commodities are attached but, on some models, they're separate components.
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Rekey the quondam deadbolt or take it to a locksmith. Once you've removed the deadbolt, you lot can popular out the cylinder housing from the exterior faceplate and rekey information technology as y'all would a knob lock. If you've lost the primal, you can accept the components to a locksmith to have a new cardinal fabricated.^[nineteen]
- Replace the entire deadbolt with a new 1 if the lock is worn or if you lot just desire a new look.
four
Install the new deadbolt's set plate and bolt. If you're replacing the unabridged lock, start past inserting the commodities through the hole in the edge of the door where the onetime commodities fit. If your brand's plate and commodities are separate components, identify the new set plate over the indentation on the side of the door where the old plate fit.^[20]
- Drive the new screws through the gear up plate and into the door to secure the new lock.
- If your new lock didn't come with screws, make certain you purchase new ones that match your hardware's colour.
5

Attach the new faceplates and secure them with screws. Line up the new exterior and interior faceplates on their corresponding sides of the hole in the door. Thread the new screws through the spiral holes in the interior plate, through the spiral holes in the bolt, and into the outside plate. Drive the screws until they're tight to complete installation.^[21]

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Add New Question

Question

How can I open a locked door if I've lost the key?

Y'all can endeavor picking the lock. Watch tutorial videos on YouTube.
Question

I have a closet door that I want to put a lock on. What should I do?

Y'all tin can buy door locks from stores like Walmart or Home Depot. Then you tin just install them equally you lot would on a regular door.
Question

How do I supercede the door lock on a double-glazed door?
Question

How practise I alter the locks on my garage door?

For overhead garage doors, in that location will be a box with a twist knob to lock/unlock the garage door from within. This will have 3 or four screws. Remove these screws and you volition see 2 more screws behind that. These two screws are the ones holding the lock to your garage door. Supercede with a new "rim cylinder" or have the lock rekeyed at a locksmith.

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About This Article

Article Summary X

To change the lock on a regular door knob, first use a screwdriver to remove the door knob and the old latch. Next, put a new latch in and replace the door knob. Alternatively, you can purchase a re-keying kit for the lock you already take. Once you accept the kit, remove the lock cylinder from the door knob so you can change the pins inside. Later you've put new pins in, yous can reassemble the door knob. If your door has a deadbolt, you lot'll demand to remove the deadbolt and all the plates. Then, you can re-key the lock or simply supervene upon the deadbolt. To learn how to access the cylinder plug and get the old pins out if you're re-keying your lock, keep reading!

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