Carpentry question: Non-mortised door hardware?

[Martinjmpr]

Wife and I are in the process of trying to sell my mom's old condo/townhouse in Littleton. We're doing some minor upgrades to get ready to put it on the market (mom moved into an independent living apartment.)

We wanted to put on all new door hardware and had the doors repainted. But when we went to put on the door knobs, I discovered that unlike most modern doors, the door latch and strike plate is not mortised into the door (which is odd because the hinges are mortised.)

Because of the non-mortised doors, the hardware won't allow the doors to close with the new door knobs on. Using the old ones isn't an option as they were destroyed removing them.

Does anyone know a source for door latches for non-mortised doors? Seems to me the only other options are (a) pull the doors off and take them somewhere to be mortised or (b) get new doors, neither of which appeals to us.

Thanks in advance!

[BPTactical]

You can get a jig to route the mortise into the frame if you like.
I have always just traced the latch plate and inlet with a chisel. It's not an overly difficult task.

[Martinjmpr]

You can get a jig to route the mortise into the frame if you like.
I have always just traced the latch plate and inlet with a chisel. It's not an overly difficult task.

Yes, it may come down to that, too. We need to get this house on the market ASAP. My problem is I don't want it to look like crap, because of that. I'd be willing to hire someone to do it if I knew someone who would do a job that small (only 9 doors total.)

[def90]

All you need is a wood chisel to mortise them yourself.

[Wulf202]

Just buy kwickset and use the non mortised latch adapter

[Martinjmpr]

Just buy kwickset and use the non mortised latch adapter

My friend, you just save me a whole ton of time! Turns out, they were Kwikset Knobs. So tonight I looked at the instructions, figured out how to pop the little plate off, and now they fit just fine. Thanks for the quick advice! I appreciate it.


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[Martinjmpr]

This was a little bastard right here. Came right off with a twist of a screwdriver.


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[Wulf202]

For those that dont know the latch back plate can be attached to either the rounded or squared mortise plate. Or removed as mentioned above with s screwdriver and the silver round non mortised latch adapter used. Aka spare parts