A frequent installation request involves a damaged door with the area around the lock miss-drilled, split, cracked, or otherwise abused. For this job, even though the door in question was not badly damaged, the customer wanted a MAG kit installed to match the appearance of other close by repaired doors, and install a lock the customer had already purchased.

    This job posed a bit of a challenge, to begin with it was a Formica covered door, very unforgiving to work on, and of course with a door covered in Formica, no shaving down of the door is possible to make for a better fit, leading to the second issue-there is not enough room to put a MAG kit over the Formica. The door fits so tightly against the jamb, even the minor thickness of the sheet stainless steel of the MAG would prevent the door from closing at all.

   After removing the old lever lock, a Schlage AL line privacy lock, I could see the full extent of the damage done by numerous previous lock installations.

   The MAG kit selected is an 81S, it matches the backset of the previously installed locks, and is supposed to fit snugly around the door. However to make things a bit more difficult for me, the door is a tad to thick for the MAG, it cannot slide fully over the door, so I will not only have to mortise the kit into the door edge to allow the door to fit into the frame, but I will also have to cut deep enough to allow the kit to slide on completely in terms of thickness.

   I hold the edge of the MAG and door together, and carefully mark the door edge with a razor knife above and below the MAG, then using a coping saw, cut into the door deep enough to go thru the Formica and into the wood an 1/4" or so.

   After doing this I can gently use a hammer and sharp chisel to remove the material needed for fitting the MAG, being careful not to chip or split any visible Formica.

   Now I can remove the protective plastic from the MAG and screw the latch into it. I do this before even placing the MAG kit on the door. Now I can loosely slide the kit over the door, with the latch already in place.

   Before installing the screws that fasten the MAG to the door, I install the lock into the MAG and door, only partially tightening the lock mounting screws, as I still want the lock loose on the MAG.

   Intermitently tightening the mounting screws of the lock, and pushing and bumping with my rubber hammer handle, I perfecly line up the edge of the MAG and the edge of the door, gradually tightening until the lock mounting screws are fully tightened.

   I can check the final position of the MAG to make sure everything is right, and once I am satisfied, I finally drill for and install the four screws to secure the MAG to the door.