New Front Door Lock

Ever since i bought my house about 5 years ago the front door lock has been a problem. The key would stick and not turn the deadbolt. Then last week this happened.

I was actually happy. I thought, "Great, now i get to put in a new lock that wont stick all the time." My only concern was that i wouldn't be able to find a lock that looked like the original. I told Karrie about the broken door and while she was at either K-mart or Meijer, she said that she saw a lock that looked almost the same. And since it only cost $13, she bought it. It was the EZ Set Deadbolt lock.

She also had some extra keys made. The Michigan State key was for me.

I've only fixed small doors and latches for inside bedroom doors, never front doors and never a deadbolt. But it didn't look too complicated and i didn't think it was going to be difficult.

So i unscrewed the back plate of the lock deadbolt and took off the front cover. The first thing that fell out on the ground was a spring and these little metal pieces. You can see from the first picture at the top, these fit into the barrel and when the key is turned they line up to allow the lock to open.

Then i took apart the door lock some more and found the real cause of the problem. I'm no lock expert but i don't think this is right.

This was metal and plastic shavings from all of the grinding keys and teeth that have been used to open the door. Over time it disintegrated the lock until it finally broke. So i removed the entire deadbolt portion of the front door lock and started to fit in the new pieces.

The first problem i had was at the door jam. The plate that attaches the deadbolt to the door was slightly different and didn't fit into the existing slot. So i traced out the new plate and took my time removing the wood with a sharp chisel.

Then for some reason the dead bolt, lock and cover plate were not exactly the same size as the original. Instead of being 3" from the door jam it was only 2.75". So i had to remove even more wood from the door with the chisel. And in order to cover up the existing hole drilled through the door i had to turn the cover plate 90 degrees.

It's not perfect but i don't think anyone will really notice. And i really like the new lock, the key is much easier to turn now.