Do-it-yourself repair of the lock in the interior door

In detail: do-it-yourself repair of the lock in the interior door from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

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Perhaps, many have had to deal with such a situation - you need to leave the house, but you cannot lock the door or, having come home, you cannot get there. The situation is not pleasant, therefore, sometimes you need to do the repair of the door lock of the front door yourself, moreover, as quickly as possible. I do not propose to study the craft of schnifer, although they know the designs of locks better than the manufacturers themselves, but familiarity with locking mechanisms will help you avoid many troubles.

To fix a breakdown in the door lock on the front door and at the same time leave it intact, at least you should understand the design features of such mechanisms. Of course, there are a lot of varieties here, but there are four main systems, understanding which, you can start repairing.

Types of systems: 1) disk, 2) cylinder, 3) lever, 4) cruciform

Disc system - has a small semicircular key with notches.
The cylinder system is a small key with projections and notches.
Lever system - there are wings on the long key leg on the sides.
Cruciform system - the end of the key is sharp, but in general resembles the tip of a Phillips screwdriver.

The principle of operation of the mechanisms is reduced to the features of the blocking elements: disc plates, cylinders and levers. But cruciform systems are very similar in functionality to cylindrical ones, but at the same time they are easy (with certain skills) to crack with an ordinary screwdriver.

Also, such devices can be classified according to the method of installation - they can be overhead or mortise. The first option is somewhat simpler, since to dismantle it, you just need to unscrew the bar, while in the second case, you will need to do more operations.

Video (click to play).

As a rule, in the event of a breakdown, the crossbars do not move.

As a rule, in the event of a breakdown, you cannot move the crossbars in one direction or the other, but this problem can be caused by various reasons. But, you should always be prepared for the fact that you will not be able to fix the malfunction with your own hands, or that it will not be possible to fix it at all.

Larva or secretion from the inside

What can happen most often:

The door does not slam. The tongue may not snap into place for the reason that it rests against the strip on the box and you just need to bore the mating hole with a file. Also, the tongue can rest against the overlay that holds the mechanism from the end side of the web - here, too, you need to bore the hole with a file.
Problem opening (closing) the door. The reason most often lies in the skew of the canvas, or in the skew of the door lock. Check it out and fix the problem. Also, during installation or dismantling, you could bend the walls of the mechanism case - remove it, level it and the functions will be restored
It is difficult to turn and sometimes insert the key (in most cases, this problem is inherent in metal doors). The most common cause of breakdowns lies in clogging of mechanisms or, as a result, displacement of parts. In such situations, they simply remove the lock, clean it, or even wash it with white spirit or gasoline (the first option wears out faster), then grease it and insert it into place.
The system will jam, both open and closed. Most often, the problem lies in the secret. It is removed, washed with white spirit and a few drops of machine oil are dripped into it.If the rotation normalizes, then the larva is inserted into place, and if not, then it is replaced with a new one.

Replacing the larva with a new one is easy enough

Replacement of the larva (lock, key cylinder) is done in two cases: the first is described above in point 4 of the "Frequent faults" section, and the other reason is the need to change the keys (5 pieces are usually attached to the lock). In order to dismantle the old part, it is necessary to remove the clamping bar from the end of the canvas (usually there are 4 bolts), as well as handles with side plates. After that, you need to unscrew the long bolt that rigidly fixes the cylinder in the working position - this way you will free the larva, but it will not come out right away.

The blue tick marks the cam, which not only moves the crossbars, but also stops the part

The fact is that the larva is held by the cam when the key is in the "open" or "closed" position - in a different perspective, the key does not pull out, but this is not necessary. The key remains in the lock and is turned slightly, literally 5-6⁰ in one direction or the other (you need to try). And then the cam sticking out to the side will sink into the body of the cylinder, which will come out of the bore hole without any problems (just pull the key). You may not need to change this unit, but a few drops of engine oil will be enough. After dismantling the lock, you can pull out the entire lock, but there are no bolted connections on the body - the side walls are riveted.

Destruction of pins in the larva with a thin drill

If you need to open the door, and you have lost the only key, then this can be solved in at least two ways:

To do this, you will have to destroy the set of pins. Just below the well, make a through hole with a thin drill, but provided there is no protection against drilling. After that, the lock will open with a flat screwdriver.
In case of a critical malfunction of the lock or loss of the key, bend a minus thick screwdriver in the shape of the letter G and drive this roll into the keyhole. The door will open in several turns.

The interior of the lever lock - view without the case cover

Lever type locks can be both overhead and mortise, but in any case, the repair of the front door door lock requires removal and disassembly. For the overhead version, it is enough to unscrew the self-tapping screws that fix it to the canvas, and for the internal one, you will need to remove the end clamping bar, and in some models also the handle when a latch is provided there. Then the housing cover is unscrewed, and when you open it, sometimes the problem of breakage is immediately visible, too - most often, it is a loose thrust spring on the levers.

But sometimes you have to clean or wash all the parts of the mechanism with white spirit, and the difficulty here is not that they cannot be removed, but that it is problematic to remember the order of the arrangement of the plates (levers). Some locksmiths simply number each plate, scratching a number on it with a scribe, since the marker will not hold, because all the parts will need to be cleaned, washed and lubricated. By the way, in such situations, it is best to use fatty or synthetic grease for lubrication, where the operating temperature is up to 70⁰C. But then, when the door goes out into the street and the castle area is very hot from the sun's rays, then Tosol-OIZ (cutting fluid) is perfect. Machine oil will certainly make sliding of moving parts easier, but not for long, as it will simply drain and be used only for CIP lubrication.

Below you can watch an instructional video about disassembling and assembling a lever lock.

Video: Dismantling a lever lock with your own hands

Emergency opening of the suval castle

If you drill out the shank post, then the lock will crumble

If I were a sniffer, I would open such a lock with a master key, but this requires skill, although some still manage to open the door without experience using a screwdriver curved with the letter G and a crocheted knitting needle. But there is a method that is available to almost everyone - you just need to drill out the shank post and the insides of the lock will crumble. After that, instead of a key, any bent screwdriver will do to hook the bolts.

Disassembled disc lock

In fact, the repair of disc locks is not much different from lever mechanisms, since it also consists in cleaning, washing and lubricating rotating elements, for example, a disc pack, although dust almost does not get there, if it was not done on purpose. But at the same time, such a device is a type of cylinder lock, only the cylinder is a set of discs, according to the configuration of which the key is made. Here you can change the shapes, sizes and angles, which will allow you to use a different key, only an experienced craftsman can do this.

It is noteworthy that amateur hacking of such a device is almost impossible (I mean accurate work without any damage) - a master key will not work here, and drilling a larva will lead to scrolling of the disks along with the drill. So, all that remains is the work of the bugbear, that is, knocking out the larva, which will lead to the eruption of the discs. All that remains is to insert a simple screwdriver into the hole and turn it instead of the key. You can also drive a convolution into the well - this is a flat screwdriver made of alloy steel, which is bent with the letter G. The lock, of course, will have to be thrown out, but the door will open.

Exploded view of the cruciform lock

As you can see, there is nothing to repair a person in cross locks, since there is nothing to break, so maintenance, as a rule, boils down to cleaning, washing the insides and lubricating. The system itself of this type is extremely inconvenient and unreliable - most often the key wears out first, and all four ribs at the same time, which during opening leads to a "bite", that is, the key jams.

There are many ways to hack, for example:

If the key breaks in the hole of the well, then with a drill slightly exceeding the key diameter, the larva is drilled out and the device is opened with an ordinary screwdriver.
When there is no key at all, but there is a screwdriver, select the nozzle according to the borehole diameter, and in the low speed mode, they begin to scroll the larva, pressing harder and harder. The door will be open in a few minutes.
You can even open the cross mechanism with chewing gum, but this will take several hours and preferably in the cold season. The chewing gum is pushed into the hole, and when it hardens, drive in any screwdriver there and open the door.
The fastest way is to break in with a Phillips screwdriver. It is driven into a well (in fact, this is the same convolution) to the depth of the larva and turned with a gas wrench. It only takes one or two minutes.

Perhaps, in this article, you learned more about emergency opening or burglary than about repairing the door lock of the front door, but such is life. When a key is lost or broken in the keyhole, then in most outcomes the question of maintenance of the device is no longer there, but only about replacing the mechanism.

The frequency and intensity of door use in any home is different. However, given the fact that even the highest quality structures and parts are prone to wear and tear, the repair of interior doors is a fairly common occurrence. Therefore, in order to perform it efficiently and ensure a longer service life of the structure, you need to know how to act in case of various types of breakdowns.

Almost any door has a fairly impressive weight and, depending on the frequency of use and the force applied in this case, the load on the hinges provokes their deformation. At the same time, gaps often appear between the frame and the door leaf.To correct this problem, you can replace the door hinges.

Sometimes the frame itself is deformed. In this case, do-it-yourself repair of interior doors consists in leveling the box. To do this, several holes are made in it deep into the wall and with the help of dowels it is fixed at the required vertical level.

If the blade sags before it gets stuck and the floor covering scratches, proceed as follows:

Check how tight the loops are. In some cases, to solve the problem, it is enough to simply tweak them;
If the hinges are not loosened, you need to fix them deeper. For this, the door is removed and the hinge mechanisms themselves are disconnected;
Deepening can be done with a chisel both in the door leaf and in the frame. After that, the hinges are mounted in their original place.

After this procedure, it is important, initially securing the mechanism with only one screw, to check how the door closes. If the result is unsatisfactory, it is necessary to increase the degree of deepening of the hinge mechanism. Full fixation of the loops is performed only after the desired result has been obtained.

If, in the process of repairing the interior door, significant damage is found in the attachment points of the hinge mechanisms, the correct solution would be to move the hinges above or below the old location.

The most unreliable mechanisms of the entire structure are fittings, and in particular door handles. This is due to the rather heavy loads that fall on them. In order to carry out a high-quality repair of door handles used to open and close interior doors, it is necessary to study the type of the mechanism itself.

So the door handles, based on the principle of operation, are divided into:

Swivel, usually in the form of a ball with a keyhole in the center;
Push-type mechanisms;
Standard, immovable.

The most common cause of jamming faults is insufficient lubrication of the product components. To eliminate the malfunction, it is enough to disassemble the handle and treat the parts with lubricant. In some cases, it is permissible to simply apply the oil used for processing sewing machine parts to the transom. Subsequently, it is necessary to turn the mechanism several times.

Such measures are often quite enough to eliminate the squeak that occurs during the use of the handle and jamming of the crossbars. If these manipulations did not solve the problem, it is necessary to completely disassemble the door handle.

In this case, the decorative strip is initially removed and the fasteners located under it are unscrewed. When repairing interior doors with your own hands, you need to carefully consider the washer and the rotary spring. For a detailed inspection of the washer, it is necessary to remove the retaining ring. If these elements are damaged, they must be replaced.

In the event that the reversing spring has been displaced, it is simply enough to reinstall it in its original place. However, in the presence of damage, in most cases, a complete replacement of the entire mechanism will be required, since pivot springs for door handles are extremely rare on the market.

If it is impossible to identify the problem, the door handle mechanism is completely removed and disassembled. In this case, any broken part must be replaced. The assembly of the product itself must be carried out in the reverse order of disassembly.

In the event of any problems with the lock, repairing interior doors with your own hands is much easier than if there was a breakdown of the locking mechanism of the front door. In most cases, the causes of problems are:

Foreign objects in the keyhole in the form of litter or a piece of a broken key;
Insufficient lubrication;
Skewed door leaf or deformation of the hinges;
Mismatch of the hole in the frame with the bolt;
Damaged spring or deadbolt mechanism.

If the reason is not in the lock itself, the door leaf should be adjusted. In most cases, it is necessary to tighten or replace the hinge mechanisms. Lubrication of the lock is much more effective when processing the entire interior; for this, the lock must be disassembled. However, even without this, a long-term effect can be achieved. It is enough to apply grease to the bolt using an oiler, syringe or pipette and slowly turn the handle several times.

In the event that the breakdown lies in the mechanism itself, it is necessary to remove and disassemble it. The lock itself consists of a lock and an executive part. For dismantling and disassembly, first of all, the screws located near the core of the product are unscrewed. Next, a key is inserted into the keyhole and the secret is removed by turning it a little. Only then is it permissible to remove the entire lock body.

The case cover itself also has fasteners in the form of small screws. After their removal, the accumulated dust is cleaned and the integrity of all internal components is inspected. If any damage or deformation is found, the part needs to be replaced.

All parts must be lubricated before assembly. If after all the procedures the lock does not work properly, it must be completely replaced.

Many interior doors are made of wood. Since this material is largely exposed to the external environment, it is not uncommon for the web to dry out and crack. The simplest solution in this case is to install metal corners. However, such measures can significantly spoil the appearance of the structure.

In case of dryness, the repair of interior doors can be carried out by processing the canvas with a special adhesive solution. To do this, the door must be removed from the hinges and the entire surface must be treated. Cracks are lubricated more intensively. To achieve the desired effect, the glued door is slightly squeezed with clamps or a press and left in this form until completely dry. After that, the blade can be reinstalled in its original place.

If cracks and chips are found on the glass, it must be replaced. For this, the method of its installation is determined. The glass can be fixed with glazing beads or installed inside the curtain.

To remove glass with glazing beads, you need to lift them with a thin screwdriver or knife near each nail. After that, all the strips and the glass itself are removed. The installation of a new glass is carried out in the reverse order.

In the case of an internal type of glass installation, the procedure for replacing it is more laborious. For this, the door is removed from the hinges. There are plugs on the canvas with self-tapping screws under them. These fasteners secure a special cover that holds the glass in place. By unscrewing the screws, the cover can be removed and then remove the damaged glass.It is important to take into account that in the grooves there is a special seal that protects the glass from damage during the opening and closing of the doors. In order not to damage it, the edges of the glass are coated with soapy water before installation and dismantling. The installation procedure is carried out upside-down.The lock helps prevent unplanned entry of anyone into the premises. During the operation of the locking device, situations arise, as a result of which it becomes difficult or impossible to enter the room. Before looking for how to replace the lock in the interior door with a new one, you should make sure that it cannot be repaired. Most likely, the repair does not require serious knowledge and you can do it yourself.Before proceeding with the repair work, the lock is first disassembled to see what is being done inside the mechanism. Meanwhile, there are a number of situations when you really can't do without it. Disassembly is required if the lock:

It sticks.Despite the high-quality workmanship and the use of wear-resistant materials, individual elements of the locking mechanism need to be lubricated. Sometimes it is necessary to adjust the position of some parts.

Has broken. If wear has reached a critical value, or during operation, the locking mechanism has experienced a serious impact, individual parts break. In such a situation, it will be necessary to replace / repair individual elements or the lock as a whole.

Rearranged. When replacing a door leaf, many leave the same locking mechanism so that all doors in an apartment or house have the same handles. In this case, you will have to disassemble the lock in order to reinstall it in a new place;

Works, but the key is lost. Ideally, it is better to invite a specialist who will burn to make a key for a specific lock. If this option does not suit you or the mechanism is too complicated, you will have to disassemble the larva to get inside the room.

You can't do without disassembly

Advice! Getting started installing the locking mechanism, it is worth disassembling and assembling it on the table. This will avoid annoying mistakes at the time of final assembly.

Before proceeding with the disassembly of the mechanism, you should understand its design features. Each type of locking mechanism has features that are taken into account when performing repair work.

Such a locking mechanism can be safely called standard, since it is found most often. It restricts access to a specific room by fixing the door leaf in a closed position. When the handle is pressed, the tongue moves back a certain distance.

In round rotary knobs, the latch lock is built in initially. This locking mechanism reliably locks the door in the closed position. In this case, it will not work to open the door by pressing the handle.

Typical breakage of the latch lock

A locking mechanism that allows the door to be locked from the inside of the room. Installed in bathrooms, toilets, bedrooms - where a time limit is required. There is a lever or push-button type.

A special latch included in the handle limits the functionality of the latter only on one side of the door leaf. When the handle is pressed, the reed element moves under the influence of a special spring. Distinguished by simplicity of design, such a locking mechanism has poor resistance to external influences, and therefore can easily fail.

Read also: DIY M16A engine repair

But no matter how difficult the breakdown was, the result is the same - the lock needs to be repaired.Unlike locking devices for the front door, interior designs have a simple mechanism, and you can repair it yourself. But if the locking system is with a more complex design, then it would be reasonable to invite a specialist for help.In order for the repair to go through correctly and without problems, first you need to familiarize yourself with its device.All castle models include two components:

secret - a part of the mechanism, which includes the key;

the executive part is a device that directly performs the locking function.

screwdriver;

tweezers;

lubricating oil;

tissue flap;

kerosene and a toothbrush.

After procurement of the required materials and improvised means, you can begin to repair the lock mechanism.First you need to make sure that the breakdown really happened in the locking mechanism. It so happens that the culprit of all the troubles is the door frame. In this case, you need to try to fix the problem, you just need to bore the box, and the lock will work.And if it is determined that the lock is still faulty, then the first step is to remove the cylinder, which is checked for operability no longer in the lock. If it breaks down, a new cylinder is installed. It may be that part of the locking mechanism is working normally, then the problem should be looked for in the main body of the lock.Replacing the cylindrical lock.If the lock case breaks down, you will need a screwdriver to put it in order. Using this tool, unscrew the fastening bolts and remove the lock from the door leaf. This option is acceptable for overhead locks.When the mortise structure of the lock is installed, the core is first removed, and only then can the structure of the lock itself be removed from the opening. The lock is placed on a flat surface and on a fabric flap, which is necessary in order not to lose the spring when disassembling the lock. Using a special screwdriver to disassemble the lock case, the screws on the cover are unscrewed that fix it.All foreign bodies - debris, dirt and dust - are removed with tweezers. All parts are immediately checked for breakage or deformation, or for their presence. The mechanism of such locks consists of round or flat springs and bolt levers.The locking mechanism works like this: the shutter lever is lifted by turning the key and pushes the shutter up. The spring has the function of returning the lever to its original place. A second spring holds the latch without movement. If it is she who has failed, then it must be replaced. The shutter can also be bent; to eliminate this problem, it is straightened in a vice.The device is a leveled mortise lock.Before carrying out the cleaning work of the elements of the lock, it is necessary to completely memorize the device of the mechanism, only then can the parts be dismantled. It is recommended to use kerosene for washing all elements, and an unnecessary toothbrush for cleaning, and then wipe it dry with a rag. As all the parts are washed and cleaned, the system is lubricated with machine oil. The final step will be the assembly and installation of the lock in the door hole.When a lock of a more complex design is installed in the door, it will take some time to disassemble it. The first step in disassembling such a device is to dismantle the handle, if it is attached with visible bolts, then they are unscrewed with a screwdriver or similar tool.After dismantling the door handle, you need to take a thin pointed object in the form of an awl or knitting needle and, having felt the latching mechanism and pushing on it, you need to try to open the door.When the problem is not in the latch, but in the crossbar, it will be difficult without the help of a master, but you can take a risk. To do this, you need to do the following:

platbands are dismantled;

using a chisel and a hammer, remove the part of the door frame where the metal plate is embedded;

in the event that the door opens "towards itself", you can easily open it, but if not, then the jamb will become unusable, but the door will remain intact.

If, nevertheless, it was decided to repair the castle with your own hands, then in order to do the work efficiently and in a short time, you need to follow some recommendations:

If the old larva is defective, it can be replaced with a new one. After determining the size of the larva, it is best to purchase it from a specialist store.

To dismantle the old larva, the key is inserted into the door lock and, having opened the door, it is fixed in a comfortable working position. The next step will be to remove the screws with which the lock plate is attached. Next, you need to determine the screw that fixes the position of the larva. Basically, its location is in the center of the lock, under the tongue. Without removing the key, turning it, you need to try to pull the larva out of the nest. But it happens that the key is missing, in which case the larva can be removed with a drill.

To install a new larva, all the same steps are done in reverse order.In order for the larva to freely enter the lock slot, a key is inserted into it and rotated. Once in place, it is secured with a screw. At the end of the process, a plate is applied and fixed with screws.

Any locking mechanism requires periodic lubrication

Let's say you checked the security status and did not find the source of the problem. All parts are intact and are in place. How to repair a lock with a working cylinder in a metal door with your own hands? Most likely, the cause of the breakdown lies in the clogging of the mechanism. This situation is not uncommon, especially when it comes to a metal door.

In this case, do-it-yourself repairs are as easy as shelling pears. Unscrew the lock first. Remove all parts of the mechanism. Blow thoroughly and use a stiff brush to remove any accumulated dust and other dirt particles. Then wipe down the larger parts with a cloth. Apply a small amount of lubricant to a cotton swab and carefully clean each piece of the lock. Assemble it and put it back in place. Check the quality of his work.

Please note: after such processing, the key may become contaminated with lubricant for some time.

Quite often, it is required to repair the lock in the interior door. There is a large load on them, and therefore, over time, the tongue begins to sink, the handle sticks or the latch dangles.

How to repair a lock in an interior door with your own hands:

If the problem lies in the sunken latch, it is necessary to disassemble the lock and reinstall it. The spring may need to be replaced.
If the handle is loose and does not return the tongue to its original position, you need to check its attachment relative to the pivot mechanism. Then put it back in place and tighten with screws. From time to time, you need to carry out a similar procedure and lubricate the mechanism to prevent its breakdown.
When the latch jams, you need to disassemble the part of the lock that is responsible for fixing it. The reason may be displacement of the part, rubbing of elements, their deformation or cracks. In this case, you need to replace the damaged part with a new one.
If problems arise with the turnkey lock, the repair is carried out according to the same principle as for the front door. Perhaps replacement of the larva or simple cleaning of the mechanism is required.

If all efforts were in vain, you can call the master. However, you will most likely need to install a new lock.

Video (click to play).