The easiest and the most inexpensive way to update the look of the doors in your house and make them fit the new interior without splurging on completely new doors is repainting the doors you already have and replacing door knobs with their contemporary alternatives. Even if you’re not conducting a house remodel, you might find that one particular door knob in your house doesn’t work properly. Thus, it needs replacement.
That will be a perfect chance to renew old and ugly knobs on the rest of the doors (at least on the doors of that floor) and make them close smoothly and silently.
If you plan to go to the town and get new knobs for a number of doors in your house, hiring a door contractor to get them installed is probably the smartest idea. As the fuss an inexperienced person will have to go through in order to install even a couple of door knobs isn’t worth saving money on professional’s assistance.
Go to HireRush.com and post a door knob replacement request for our door contractors or locksmiths and have your knobs replaced without any stress on your behalf.
On the other hand, those who need to install a single door knob to replace the one that broke may totally attempt doing that on their own. If the process of removing and installing a door knob confuses you, make sure to follow these simple guidelines to change a door knob without experiencing any major difficulties. Check if you have necessary tools to do that as well.
Tips for replacing a door knob
There’re a few side notes I’d like to make before we start the actual door knob removal and installation.
Firstly, the only tool you’ll need to replace a door knob is a Phillips screwdriver. In addition to that, you might need a thin flat-blade screwdriver if the current knob you want to get rid of is attached to the door with the help of hidden screws but not mounting screws that go through the rose cover (aka trim).
Secondly, don’t hurry to buy a new door knob unless you want to get the one that looks exactly the same as your old one. And not just looks, but actually is exactly the same. If not, you’ll have to measure the distance between the center of the knob hole in your door and its outer edge and use these measurements to make sure that the knob you want to purchase will fit your door. And that could be done only after the old knob is taken off the door.
Lastly, if you’re going for a knob with a lock, make sure to determine whether you want to install it on the outside, or the inside of the room, as well as remember the side of the door (left or right) the knob is supposed to be attached to.
In order to do that, open the door to make the latch face you and note, on which side of the door the locking mechanism will go. As the door knobs are irreversible, you’ll be in a big trouble if you get that wrong.
How to change a door knob
- Remove your current door knob. In order to do that, use a Phillips screwdriver to undo the mounting screws on the interior rose plate (sometimes on both of them) and pull the knobs out.
- If your door knob is mounted onto the door with the help of hidden screws, you’ll need to find a slot on the side of the actual handle and use a thin pin or a key to push onto the tiny metal plate in it. Thus, you’ll loosen the knob and make it possible to get it out. Then, you might have to use a flat-blade screwdriver to pry off the rose covers.
- After the old knobs are dismantled, pull the latch out of the door. If it doesn’t come out, find the screws that secure it to the door’s edge, undo them using a screwdriver and slide the latch out.
- Don’t forget to undo the screws on the strike plate on the edge of the door frame to get rid of it as well.
- Conduct the measurements we’ve talked about above and get the replacement knob kit along with the latch plate that fits it.
- Start installing your brand new door knob. Put the edge through the hole on the side of the door frame and secure it in place with the plate (if the kind of the knob you got requires that). Make sure that the curved part of the latch should face the side to which the door closes.
- If the latch plate of your new knob differs from the one you has before, you might have to replace the latch-plate mortise on the actual door frame before the step 6.
- Once the latch is in, grab a bulkier half of the replacement door knob (the one with the spindle and screw posts), insert it into the knob hole into the door, making sure that the spindle goes through the corresponding holes in the latch.
- Adjust the other half of the knob to the one you’ve already installed so that it aligns with the spindle and the screw posts.
- Secure the knob in place with the help of the two screws that come in the kit and attach the new strike plate. Now you’re finally done! Great job!
Note that if your replacement door knob features hidden screws, you’ll have to attach the rose covers first and secure the knob parts in place afterwards. But, the latch has to be installed before all of that.
