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Completely replace sliding door handle and lock

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Handy Person from Oro Valley, AZ
Sep 26, 2019 2:38 pm

Our patio door has an unusual type of handle/lock mechanism. Lift the handle up, close the door, push it back down, and a lip on the handle overlaps a ridge on the exterior of the side jamb. It's a horrible design. I've had to replace the handle, and I'm constantly having to repair it. As you can see from the pictures there's no mortise lock or lock keeper installed. So I need the handle, lock set and keeper. And since I'll have to cut new holes in the door and jamb for the mortise lock set, keeper and handle, I need the size and locations of all holes. And I'll have to cover up the two holes for the existing handle, which are spaced at 3 15/16".

Can you recommend part numbers for all of the above and provide the additional information on the hole placement and size?

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6 Replies
Tom
Tom from SWISCO
Oct 1, 2019 12:26 pm
SWISCO
Expert

Wow, you weren't kidding. This kind of handle set is very weird. I've been looking all over and haven't had any luck finding this.

I don't want to call it quits now, but I'd like my colleague Dave to take a look at this. He knows more about this kind of hardware than I do. Please bear with us just a little longer as we look into it.

Handy Person from Oro Valley, AZ
Oct 2, 2019 9:12 am
There is room in the door frame to install a classic mortise latch. The frame is 1 3/8" wide with 1 7/8' gap inside between the edge of the door frame and where the glass starts. But I would need to also install a keeper in the jamb. Notice in the picture that the jamb is untouched. I'd have to do the cutouts in both the end of the door frame for the mortise and in the jamb for the keeper.
Dave Sr.
Dave Sr. from SWISCO
Oct 2, 2019 9:37 am
SWISCO
Expert

Hey, there! I think we can help, but before we go any further I would like to see more of the handle. See if you can show us how it locks to the door frame. Some photos of what type of locking mechanism is used would be a big help, as well as an exterior view of the outside handle. If you can possibly remove the handle completely from the door, that would be a huge help.

Even if we can't find an exact match, we can figure out a way around it. We have some tricks up our sleeve, but I want to exhaust all possibilities first.

Handy Person from Oro Valley, AZ
Oct 2, 2019 5:37 pm
I don't want to find a match. It's a terrible design. I just was to throw it away and replace it with a more conventional flush-mount handle, mortise latch, and keeper. But I'll have to do the cutouts in the door frame and jamb.
Dave Sr.
Dave Sr. from SWISCO
Oct 3, 2019 8:43 am
SWISCO
Expert

Oh, I see. I'm not sure if that's advisable. My fallback plan for the scenario where we couldn't find a match would be to recommend our surface-mount 82-005 handle set. This can work on most patio doors since it has its own built-in mortise lock. The only thing you have to do is drill new holes.

The issue with cutting slots in your door is that if your door isn't designed to accommodate them, then you could be in for a lot of trouble. You have to be careful not to hit the glass and even then, its not certain if you would have enough room to get your cutouts to fit the precise specifications of a given handle set.

I'm not saying it's impossible, just that it may be more trouble than it's worth. 

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