Door Knobs & Entry Sets

[Azurelle]

I'm buying my 1900 Folk Victorian farmhouse(a HUD repo) with a FHA 203(k) loan which rolls the purchase price of the home in with renovation funds. Great program, but lots of up front design issues and paperwork..lots and lots of paperwork.

My new home is in rural East Texas...not a hot bed of crime. BUT it looks like HUD/FHA is going to require me to replace the original entry door hardware with locking sets for SECURITY. They don't care anything about it being a 116 year old house with lots of original features...

SO. here is my issue(I know I have a lot of them) I have several different types of antique door knobs on my interior doors.

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I believe this to be the style of the original exterior doors...at least 2 of 3 have this same style on them. The door handle on the front door is missing.

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Do both the oval and square styles fit the age of the house? I'm coming up blank on my research on doors and hardware!

I have to identify and find the new hardware within a few days so that it can be included in my bids, without costing a crazy amount of money. I found this set even if it seems a bit basic...

[Gothichome]

Azurelle, the issue I think will be your long term plans for the door. You have a mortise lock set in place now. By installing a modern set you will need to remove the current set and modify the door for the new modern set. The issue as I see it is your long term thoughts on the look of the door. To replace the mortise set you would have to unmodify and return back to a mortised set. Not so easy to do and make it look good, we have folks here who could do the job I bet and make it look good. Locally I'm sure there is some won local as well. Can you get away with just a bead bolt? Only one hole to repair when the time comes, just don't lose the plug you removed. If you must go with a modern door set, I would suggest you pay the money up front for a realy good repro, there are quite a few period correct looking sets out there. Here is just one company
http://www.houseofantiquehardware.com/f ... r-hardware

[JacquieJet]

Another company to look into is www.lookintheattic.com
They do a lot of gorgeous reproductions, and can do some custom stuff too. All made in the US.
That's where we are planning on getting our door hardware in the future. Goodluck!

[Mick_VT]

If it were me I would just add an additional deadbolt or cylinder rimlock and keep everything else as is. The older designs of rimlock are usually cheaper and many actually date back to the turn of the century so are period correct.

[Mick_VT]

I have something very similar to this on my entry door - though the cylinder lock is a vintage Yale item from, I would guess, the 1940s

[ZoraQ]

I was in the same situation where I need a new lock on the front entry. I installed a modern Baldwin lock set but it was a full mortise lock with all the wiz bang security features. You can customize the Baldwin full mortise lock with different face plates and knobs depending on your style. I went with a simple face plate the match the other locks in my house. I had to do some work to plug the holes from the old cylinder lock and do a new mortise but the end result was great.

[Sinoed]

The square copper lock sets with the dark banding are consistent with the time frame of the house *if* it was built around 1900. That style is known as "copper flash" or "Japanned" and was popular from about 1890-1910 or so. I think the oval ones are a bit earlier and more consistent with a Victorian ornate look (pre 1895?) but I'm not sure (they may have been japanned too). I have some copper flash hardware in my home as well. You can clean the paint off it by soaking it in a crockpot on low for a few hours. Try not to lose the plates or the tiny little copper screws - it was only popular for a short time so some of the hardware can be expensive to replace (especially light fixtures if you have those).

[1918ColonialRevival]

The oval escutcheon designs were at their peak around 1910. Japanned hardware was popular from about the turn of the century through the early/mid 1920s. The crock pot method for removing paint works well, especially for door hardware.

As far as the lock for security, I would just install a cylinder rim lock. You can even find NOS ones that already have a natural patina. HUD should be glad that you are taking a property off their books and not subjecting you to all kinds of insane regulations.