One of the technical aspects of buying door hardware which is sometimes overlooked, to the sound of wails and moans, is fitting the handle you like to the lock that is already on your door. You may be in for more than you bargained for if you buy some gorgeous handles, whether they are reproductions or originals, and find that you need to replace all of your locks to use them… Hopefully you are in a position to first choose all of your door handles, and then get locks to match – since the door handle is the part of you that expresses your personality and originality. It is hard to imagine your guests commenting on the smooth and silent working of your locks! On the other hand, handles frequently become the showpieces of a house. Not all of us are lucky enough to be in a position to replace all of the locks on our doors when we replace our doorhandles, and in this case, you can avoid disappointment and extra expense by checking through this guide, to see whether your new door handles will fit your existing locks. You will need to look at:

The keyhole

Most antique lever handles come with small, barrel keyholes. Quite often, lever handles don’t have keyholes at all – definitely a con if you want to put it on an outside door! Sometimes you will have to decide between security and authenticity, though – the barrel keys are definitely not as secure as modern locks. Many of the reproductions on our website come with the option of a modern lock, though, so you can come to a compromise between your two needs.

The spindle

This is the square steel rod that goes through the door, perpendicular to the door’s width from left to right, connecting the handle with the lock. Spindles are sometimes threaded like a screw, or come with two holes in either end, depending on the type of knobs you have. There are generally two sizes of spindles, 7mm and 8mm. The smaller, 7mm spindles were used in old locks, especially in the United States. The 8mm spindle is now standard in Europe and is becoming so in the States as well. If you are replacing your old door knobs, measure you spindle carefully – near enough is not good enough, in this case! There is only a small difference between 7mm and 8mm, but that little difference will make your handle slip when you try to open it. It is quite difficult to source 7mm spindle handles these days, but they are possible to buy (especially reclaimed pairs). You should measure the thickness of your door as well, as in some cases (very heavy, thick doors), the spindles can be to short for you.

Rim locks and mortice locks

A mortice lock is recessed into the edge of a door, and rim locks are mounted to its surface. It is important to know which type of lock you are going to use, because:
• Rim lock were originally designed to work with door knobs - most of the lever handles will not work with them. There are many gorgeous knobs, though!
• Not all door knobs are suitable for rim locks. The backing plate of the door knob needs to be unattached to the actual knob, so that you can mount the rim olock on that side.
• Mortice locks need to be installed into the door

Distance between the spindle and keyhole

If you have fallen in love with the long back plate lever handles, you need to know the distance between the spindle and the keyhole on your door, before you rush into buying one for every door in your house… It’s fairly easy if you are going to buy the lock also – you can buy a standard lever handle, where there would be around 57mm between spindle and keyhole, and then source the lock (it should be easy enough). If you want to keep your old locks it might be a bit trickier. The best, most precise way of measuring that distance is removing your lock from your door. If you are not a handy person, but more of a feety, or even a double left-handed person, your builder should be able to help. If this is not an option, you can DIY, and long as you are extra careful and triple check your work. The distance you are looking for is between the center of the round part of the keyhole and the center of the spindle hub. Have a look ta the drawing below for an indication of what we mean. Some of our suppliers can cut the keyholes in your handles according the distance provided – handy!

Distance between the spindle and the door frame

If you don’t take note of this detail, you can make do … but you’ll be cursing yourself when your knuckles are rubbed raw from banging on the door frame! You obviously need more room on the side of a door knob closer to the door frame than you do with a lever handle, which faces away from the door frame,, so that your knuckles stay a safe distance away from it

at all times. If you want to change a lever handle to a door knob, you need long reach locks (also called horizontal locks) which are at least 12 cm and up to 15 cm long. The distance between the spindle hub in the lock and the facing plate should not be shorter than 10 cm. And the bigger the door knobs, the longer the lock you need.

But the beauty of sourcing your hardware through Architectural Classics is that you don’t need to be a locksmith to have great looking handles which work properly and don’t bang your knuckles – we have been helping our customers out with these problems for a long time, and are always happy to help you. If you want clarification, or to ask a specific question about one of our locks or handles, feel free to contact us

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