How to embed a lock in an interior door: wooden, MDF

Putting a latch on the door or embedding a lock is not so difficult. If you have a tool (nothing extra expensive or unusual is needed), you can manage it in 30-40 minutes. And that’s without experience. About how to embed a lock in an interior door and how to install a latch, and we will talk further. 

Tools for tapping locks and latches

Embedding a lock in an interior door is not so difficult, but you will need tools to work:

• A drill with a 25mm bit and/or a 22-23mm flute bit (there are lock elements with smaller sizes, so a 20mm pen/bit bit may be required). This tool cuts holes for the lock in the door leaf.
• 16 mm spade drill – to make a recess in the edge of the door and the counterpart in the jamb.
  

• Mallet and chisel (better – inch). With their help, they “deepen” the latch plate and the plate on the reciprocal hole.
• Drill with a diameter of 1 mm – drill holes for the installation of self-tapping screws, which fasten the lock itself and the lining.
• Screwdriver – tighten the screws.
• You will also need a tape measure or a long ruler (more than a meter long), a pencil, a triangle (carpentry is better, but an ordinary school one will do).

Not so expensive and rare tool. If you do not have a drill and a crown, you can buy it at any building supermarket or on the market. Since we will not be drilling a stone, there is no need to buy too expensive ones – ordinary crowns or wood drills.

A few words about what is better – a crown or a feather drill. It is easier and faster to cut a hole for the lock in the door with a crown, while there are fewer chips. But at the end, working with a crown is far from being so convenient, and the hole turns out to be larger than necessary. Drilling with a pen takes a little longer and there are more chips, but it is easier to control the process. In general, there is not much difference, but most often, a hole in the canvas is made with a crown, and at the end with a feather. But you can use the pen everywhere.

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

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

Before installing a lock or latch, you need to decide on the height at which the handles will be located. The recommended height is 90-110 cm. In this gap, they usually put a lock or latch. But when inserting a lock into an MDF door, you should not put the lock higher than a meter. The fact is that in budget models, the wooden plank into which the lock is installed has a height of 1 meter. There will be only emptiness above and you will have to re-drill the hole and figure out how to close the resulting hole. After we have decided on the height, we can begin the installation.

Notch under the lock

Before inserting the lock into the interior door, mark the selected height on the door. Make it easier with a tape measure. We put a mark on the end, transfer it with the help of a square or building level to both sides of the door leaf.

1. We take the lock / latch, 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 overlay ends. 
2. We take a 16 mm feather drill, apply it to that part of the lock that will be inserted into the door leaf. Using a marker or masking tape, a piece of electrical tape, make a mark on the drill. This mark should be a little further than the castle. We will be guided by it to what depth to make holes. This is especially important if the lock is installed against the glass. Otherwise, you can drill too deep and damage the glass.
   

3. Having installed the pen drill, we make several holes one under the other, forming a notch for the lock. The number of holes depends on the size of the lock. In some models, 4-6 is enough, in others 8-10 will be needed.
4. The edges of the holes turned out to be uneven, in addition, the wood rose in places. We take a chisel and remove protruding wood fibers from the edges, slightly working in depth (but do not get too carried away).
   

5. We take a regular 16 mm drill, put it in a drill. With it, we align the edges of the hole made. To do this, we bring it up and down, pressing it slightly to one or the other side of the notch. This operation is needed to speed up the process, but the drill must be tightly controlled. If you are not sure, it is better to level the notch with a chisel and a mallet.
   

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

8. Using a pencil or a clerical knife, we circle the lock pad around the perimeter. 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 notch under the lock part depends on the thickness of the decorative strip. Usually they try to make the bar flush with the end of the door, but it may protrude a little. Shoot little by little as you work – it’s easier to modify than to try to restore what was shot.

We put handles

To complete the installation of the lock in the interior door, it is necessary to make holes for the installation of handles. The work is much less than what has already been done, but accuracy is needed. Mistakes are not too critical, although it is better to try not to make them.

Handles are supplied with self-tapping screws for wooden doors and coupling 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 constipation, in which the self-tapping screws are hardened. And so, buy some good self-tapping screws with a diameter of 1,5-2 mm and a length of about 1 cm.

1. We take the lock and apply it to the side surface of the door, combining in height.
2. We mark with a pencil, marker or awl through the slots for installing handles.
   

3. Repeat the operation on the other side of the door leaf.
4. We install a crown or a feather drill of a suitable diameter on the drill. We set the center of the drill / crown in the marks, make holes. An important point: we drill not through, but from two sides, towards each other. That is, as soon as the drill falls into the recess made under the lock, we stop the work and start from the other side.
5. We remove the chips from the recess under the lock, put the lock plate in place, fix it with self-tapping screws.
6. We loosen the clamping screws on the handles – the central rod should “walk” freely, set it in place.
   

7. Align, fasten with screws. In veneered doors, it is better to pre-drill holes.
8. It is only necessary to tighten the fixing screw that connects the two handles and the lock cylinder. They are usually located on the underside of the handle. Take a screwdriver and tighten the screws on both handles.
   

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

Installing the latch

Locks for interior doors usually have a rotary latch (wrapping) on ​​one side that locks the lock, on the other side there is only an overlay 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 castle takes just a couple of minutes, but there are nuances.

1. We take the central part, which is inserted into the castle. We insert the side where there is no slot into the overlay without a handle, insert this design into the lower hole from the outside.
   

2. From the side of the room on the pin we put on an overlay with a wrap.
3. Tighten the clamping screw (before fixing with self-tapping screws).
4. We fasten with self-tapping screws, if it is provided for by the design, we put decorative overlays.

Everything, the insert of the lock into the interior door is almost finished, it remains to check the work.

Counterpart insert

The counterpart 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 sharply sharpened pencil.

1. We close the doors so that the latch tongue rests on the jamb. Mark the position of the latch with a pencil (top and bottom).
2. Draw horizontal lines along the marks using a triangle.
3. We measure exactly the distance from the edge of the door leaf to the middle of the lock. The middle of the lock is the middle of the tongue or the center of the fastening hole.
   

4. On the lines marking the position of the tongue, we set aside the measured distance (we measure it from the bar against which the door leaf rests). Draw a line through these two points. This is the markup for installing the counterpart of the lock.
5. We take a drill or a 14 mm pen, drill a hole in the jamb according to the given marks. The depth of the hole is slightly more than the length of the tongue.
6. Smooth out the hole with a chisel.
   

7. We close the doors, checking if the tongue enters normally. If you pull the closed door towards you, there should be a small gap – a couple of millimeters – for installing the adjusting tongue on the lining. Adjust the hole if necessary.
8. We put the reciprocal bar in place, fasten it.
9. We close the doors and check for backlash. If it is, we remove this play with the help of the adjusting tongue. Near this tongue there is a slot for a screwdriver. We put a screwdriver in this hole and press it a little. We close the doors and check. Repeat until the backlash disappears.
   

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

Latch installation features

A full-fledged lock in interior doors is not often installed. More often you have to put a latch – a handle with a tongue. It is smaller and embeds it much faster and easier.

1. We mark the installation height of the latch at the end of the door, transfer the marks to both sides of the door leaf.
2. Using a square, we measure the distance from the beginning of the bar to the center of the hole for installing the central pin (square section). Using a square, we transfer this distance to the marks. There is a second way – attach the latch body to the door so that the center of the hole and the drawn line coincide, make a mark through the hole with a pencil.
   

3. Using a pen of 23 mm or a crown of 25, we make holes in the end of the door by setting the peak of the drill to the center of the mark (so as not to move, you can mark with an awl). The depth of the hole is equal to the length of the latch body + 2-4 mm.
   

4. We change the drill to 20 mm, on both sides we make holes in the door leaf, setting the peak at the intended points.
   

5. We put the latch larva in place, fasten it.
6. We install handles and linings, as in the previous version.

Putting 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.