Deadbolt holes in interior doors

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1918ColonialRevival
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Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by 1918ColonialRevival »

I'm about to get started again on a few more of my interior doors. On seven of them, some schmuck drilled out a hole for a rim-mounted deadbolt. I'd say this was done in the late '60s when the previous owner started renting rooms out to college students.

The only way to effectively repair these holes is lengthy. Five of the doors are gum veneered, so they will require filling the holes and replacing the entire sheet of veneer on both sides of the lock stile. The other two are going to be more difficult. They are solid pine and trying to grain-match a plug will be next to impossible. A new lock stile will have to be milled, which will not be cheap.

As a temporary solution, I was thinking about taking some circular raw brass plates, aging them, and installing them over the holes. The problem is, where to get such plates.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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Re: Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by Kashka-Kat »

Im a fan of "whatever works." Are you refinishing the door? Fill the hole, sand absolutely flush to surface, and then take artists oil paints and get exact color match replicating the grain. Then your final clear finish - it would have to be a varnish that sits on top of the surface vs. an oil which sinks it - the latter would only accentuate that its different.

If you have a good eye for color, no one will notice except if they're looking for it. It just becomes part of the history of the door. You could make a wooden plug, glue it in, but still would need to do a certain amt of futzing to conceal where the edge of the plug is.

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Mick_VT
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Re: Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by Mick_VT »

how about covering them with "finger plates"
Mick...

phil
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Re: Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by phil »

I would repair that similar to a veneer repair. Cut your own veneer using similar wood and repair the surface. the bulk of the missing wood can be replaced with wood filler. you can use a loose fitting wood plug so it doesn't use a lot of filler.
cut your plug, not square, this is often referred to as a "boat" chisel out your recessed area, then fit your veneer to the recessed area. fit the boat to the hole not the reverse.
you will often see factory repairs similar to this on a mid grade of plywood where the knots have been plugged in the factory. You would of course not make the repaired area larger than the damaged area except to get rid of the perfect circle. you can use various fillers, Lacquer sticks, colored pens, paints etc to help blend it in.
the color match is very important, if your patch is a tad lighter it is easier to make it darker with pens , etc.
careful not to highlight any crack by rubbing in stain, do your repair, fill any crack between the repair and your original door and then if you need to get a bit artful with a pen to make it match you can easily make it darker. Use masking tape to try to mask outlying areas as you don't want to change the color of that area, only your patch.

I would do one patch on one side, then turn it over and fill the hole with a loose fitting wood plug and filler, then work on the other side when that has undergone any shrinkage, you might use an epoxy filler for this.

you can easily cut the veneer yourself, that way you can cut it thick , like about 1/16th inch thick, glue it in a little proud of the original surface, then you can put masking tape on the surrounding area and use a card scraper to bring it flush. Run the card scraper on top of the masking tape to get it very close to flat with the original, without scratching the surrounding area.

like with the plywood plugs you can make your plug shape like this () that's why it is called a "boat". , it isn't a nautical reference. this shape can be varied but you don't want a perfectly round patch as the concentric shape is easier to notice.

try to cut your veneer piece and then cut the recessed area to match, do the reverse. cut the pocket to receive the patch , then cut the patch. you can make a template from paper if you wish. If you mess it up you can cut another piece of veneer until you are happy with the fit, and the grain match.

I'd start by finding whatever piece of wood you can that is the best match , then cut a bunch of thin slices so you have extras to play with in case you don't quite like the way some of them fit. You can use either a router with template or a chisel to cut the recessed area out. once you have cut this recessed area then worry about fitting your boat as accurately as you can.

If you just use brass plates this is easier. id' just order what you need from metal supermarkets. copper would work too , or nickel plated if you can find it. You can order them cut to the size you like than to drill the holes, clamp them between wood pieces and drill all your holes right through the stack , this will avoid the bit catching and twisting your metal plates. if they get twisted it is very hard to flatten them perfectly. drill all the holes as a stack with them well clamped between a wood piece on the front and back of the stack to prevent distortion.
https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/store-finder/
let them cut them to size, they will do it on a metal shear which wont' twist them up like you would with hand shears or tin snips.
youmight need to buy a box of suitable wood screws , I'd use ones with rounded heads rather than countersinking them all. or brass tacks maybe.

If you wanted to have them engraved you could add a little design to make them unique. you can etch copper or brass by coating it with wax and then scribing on the metal ( through the wax) then drop them in acid to get the relief where you want or you can use electroplating techniques. You could add your own little design element if you wanted.

I think the push plates are more common on spring loaded doors. they might seem a littl eout of place on normal bedroom doors and such. no need to push the plate if it needs to be opened with a doorknob. I can see it is easier than veneer matching.

1918ColonialRevival
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Re: Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by 1918ColonialRevival »

Phil - thanks for the tip on Metal Supermarkets. I believe that will be a good interim solution and they have a location in East Baltimore. I'll see what getting 15 copper or brass discs about 3 inches in diameter will run. Actually, I should probably get more in case any get damaged for whatever reason.

I am eventually going to do them right, but it may be years (or decades) before that happens. Too many other projects that take priority.

phil
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Re: Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by phil »

If you want them round then I dont' think Metal supermarkets can help other than providing square pieces. You can clamp them together with a piece of wood either side and use a coping saw or hack saw or a jig saw or a bandsaw , to cut them as a stack and then file the edges smooth. You can try cutting circles with tin snips and if you do that just try not to bend them. tin snips come with red green or yellow handles to signify if you are cutting to the right or left or straight so if you have a choice use the correct type.

have a railway nearby? maybe you can put some coins on the tracks and use that.. it's cheaper ;-) maybe some run over silver coins or I think quarters are nickle.. you might have fun.. Canadian "toonies" are fun to get run over as they have a silver colored doughnut shape that surrounds a brass center..

Phil

1918ColonialRevival
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Re: Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by 1918ColonialRevival »

I believe I've found my temporary solution - raw brass valve tag blanks. I just need to drill a second hole in them.

phil
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Re: Deadbolt holes in interior doors

Post by phil »

1918ColonialRevival wrote:I believe I've found my temporary solution - raw brass valve tag blanks. I just need to drill a second hole in them.


sounds a lot easier than repairing the holes. You are right you can always re-visit that later if you want to.

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