Door Knob Problems: The Hole is the Wrong Size!

One nice way to update your home is to replace door knob fixtures on interior doors. You can usually find high quality door knobs, both with locks and without at your local home improvement store. It’ll really update your home to replace these fixtures. However you may run into a snag, the size of the current hole in the door. Many times a door knob hole may be too small for the new door knobs sold these days. Or, you may have the opposite problem; someone made the hole too big!

So how do you fix this problem? It is actually fairly simple if you have the patience and time.

To make a door hole larger:

Materials you’ll need:

Hole saw (same width as the inner workings of your doorknob)
Electric drill (a drill that runs on a battery will not be strong enough)
High grit sandpaper (400 or so)

1. Remove the door from its hinges, and set it up where you have easy access to the door knob hole. A pair of saw horses will work nicely.

2. Attach the hole saw to your drill, you can buy hole saw kits at your local hardware store with all the correct attachments. Position the hole saw over the current hole, making sure it is centered. Simply drill a new hole over the top of the old hole to make it bigger. If you are having trouble with this, you can also use a clamp with a piece of lumber on the underside to help guide the hole saw through. Once you are finished drilling, sand the edges lightly until you get a nice smooth surface.

3. Then, replace your door knob by attaching it to the door! You should be able to slide it in much easier with a hole that fits the fixture.

To make a door hole smaller: (this is a bit more difficult)

Materials you’ll need:
PVC pipe (with a diameter just smaller than the hole itself)
Wood putty (that you can stain or paint)
Hack saw
Drill with a flat wood bit

1. Remove the door from its hinges, and set it up where you have access to the door knob hole. Again, a pair of saw horses will work quite nicely.

2. Measure the width of the hole and cut the PVC pipe about one quarter inch shorter. Next, place the PVC pipe into the hole, so that its edges are one eighth inch short of the sides of the door. You may need to use a hack saw to remove a portion of the PVC pipe if the diameter is too wide. Use caution with this process so you do not cut yourself. The PVC pipe should sit snugly in the hole so that you can drill another hole for the lock mechanism.

3. Now that you have the PVC pipe in place, take the drill with the flat wood bit and drill a hole into the side of the PVC pipe where the locking mechanism belongs. The hole should be made big enough that you can insert the lock without it jiggling around.

4. Now, if you were to place the door knob in the hole, you’ll have quite an unsightly PVC rim to it. Because you have the one eighth inch gap, you can fill it with your wood putty. Sand down the wood putty after it dries so that it is even with the rest of the door.

5. Last, if you have stain or paint that matches your door, use it to match the wood putty to the color that is already there. You’ll be amazed and will never be able to tell that the hole used to be too big.

Note-this works great also if you are trying to make your hole larger (using the above directions), but accidentally made it just a bit too big!

Replace a door knobs to add beauty and functionality to a space. It is a simple way to update your home and replace old grimy fixtures. Now that you have the tools and know how, you can beautify your home with these simple steps.