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Can a mortise replacement cost $250?

I have a mortise door lock - no idea what brand and what model. It is installed on an exterior metal double door and this morning the dead bolt jammed and won't fully retract. The deadbolt is the lower part of a mortise lock. Tried for an hour and no luck. Call a local locksmith who had a good experience with two years ago and he said he will send someone over in an hour or two. Someone came an hour later from "A+ Locks" so he contacted another locksmith. OK let's try. This guy is a joke. Tried using his allen wrench to loosen the screws and one screw fell down to the "inside" of the metal door. The he tried to open it brute force buy pushing and pulling and banging the door from the inside, still no luck. I suggested we take the door pins out from the inside and see if we can loosen the entire door and he ignored me. Next he sprayed a bunch of WB40 and nothing he tried worked.

So finally this guy went to his car and got his screw driver, hammer and plier. He jammed his screw driver into the door edge and started hammering, chipping the paint and caused a few scratches. Then he took the plier and clamped onto my solid brass handle and I said to him then "I would rather you not force things and break it I don't know if I can find replacement parts", he ignored me and forced it and "clacked" the deadbolt handle is now loosen. Only the deadbolt is still jammed. But the handle can turn around and around now, something is now truly broken in the lock. Finally he gave up and said to me he will call the guy I originally contacted and see if he can come by Monday, then he left, without putting everything back, loose screws, handles, keys, pins, everything still on the floor, I had to put is back together. While I was doing this, I decided to open up the opposing door (it's a double door) dummy handle. Once I removed it I can see the deadbolt protruding from the other lock. It was not sticking straight into the plate, for some reason it was leaning "downward" a bit and end up getting caught and not able to fully retract. I stuck my index finger in, gave it a lift, turned the deadbolt handle, but the deadbolt handle is no longer connected to the door lock because he broke it. So I use my index finger and just push back into the other side and now the door opens.

With the door opened I can now remove the lock. This is what it looks like:

This is what the double door look like:

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This is what the door with the lock look like:
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This is what the lock look like when viewed from the side:
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I cannot see any brand names on any of the parts. But since I now have a deadbolt that does not retract correctly (because I can see two pins that held it in it's tracks were gone) and the deadbolt cylinder is now broken by the locksmith.

I took out this part:

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and drove to the locksmith. He said he does not know if there is a replacement part for it. I asked if he can repair the cylinder and replace the two pins, he said no. But I left him the parts he said he will check with his distributor.

Today he called back and said he found the replacement part. The mortise itself will cost me $200 and the broken cylinder would have been another $100 but since they broke it he said he will charge me half. So to get another mortise I need to pay $250.

I seem to remember most high end locks are around $200 including the handles and hardware. How can the mortise itself be $250? Am I getting ripped off or is he honest? If he is, my lock set is a $500 lock set? and it has no brand name?

Thanks for any advise,

MC

Reply to
miamicuse
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I HATE most of those types of locks.. they NEVER put their brand name on them. look under the SIDE cover-the edge of the door and see if there are any labels there.

my first question is the brand of the DOOR.. lie the whole assembly is an 'Anderson' for instance

Marks makes one that is close to that, but doubt if it would interchange. Papazii (spelling is off) is another brand.. and there are some others as well.

and I am thinking the price is somewhat determined by YOUR area.

$250 for my area would be awful high.

residential mortice locks as a search might get you some more possibilities.

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

Thanks.

It seems I can get a complete new lock for less than that. The only thing is the door is metal and is already drilled with holes on it. I think most likely other "similar" locks will not install into the existing holes?

This is what the door looks like now without the lock. Can I install another lock instead? The existing door handles are somewhat corroded and it seem ridiculous to pay $250 for a new mortise if I can get a brand new set for less.

MC

Reply to
miamicuse

This one looks real close. The holes do not match but it could be it's cousin.

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Reply to
miamicuse

ok, then do some digging.. ATRIUM lock is what you are after..

you need a few dimensions. from the edge of the door, to the center of the hole, is how much. the edge of the door- measure the mounting screw holes, center to center. and the general dimensions of your lock case..then do some comparing.

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and there are others as well. trick is finding what matches YOURS.

FIRST THO is find who made the doors- they might be from that company.

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

It's a cheap crap-o Atrium lock made in Taiwan. They cost about $125 at the very most plus labor.

These locks are junk and break all the time. I get about 3 or 4 of these broken each year in one of the local developments around here with about 1000 homes.

Reply to
tronno22556

The mortise cost about $125 or the whole lock set $125? Do you know of a source for parts? Thanks.

MC

Reply to
miamicuse

So here is some free advice:

Now that you know exactly what type of lock you have, and know that it is broken, you can call around to the locksmiths in your area and tell them what you know... It sounds as if you experienced "less than completely professional service" up to this point, so why not investigate possible locksmiths you would consider hiring by checking with the local Better Business Bureau, and the ALOA...

Hint: Most locksmiths who are registered and certified by the ALOA are very nice professional tradespeople...

The price of your item will depend on how much it costs the locksmith you hire to replace it to obtain the part/item, where you are in the country (labor rate), and how quickly you want it done (express or overnight shipping on parts/stock is expensive and you will pay the cost of that plus mark-up for such service)...

Call around in your area asking for estimates -- that is the only way you will KNOW what it will cost you...

Evan, ~~ formerly a maintenance man, now a college student...

Reply to
Evan

The whole crap-o lock with the lock cylinder and all the trim, handles,

2 keys and even an allen wrench for just $125 (at an expensive lock source). It's a bunch of crap. You get what you pay for and don't expect more than 5 to 10 years out of it.

I'm on my way out the door for the day, so I can't look for a lock for you at the moment.

Reply to
tronno22556

Shiva Thanks for the link. I looked and searched everywhere, saw a few close ones but nothing matchin exactly...

I re-examined the door, front, back, side, edges, hinges everywhere including the top edge, the only edge I did not see is the bottom edge. No markings of any kind. On each door on the inside edge there is a permanent marker with a writing 152438 but that was hand written probably means some "internal" number of some sort. I then did a search on metal+entry+door and found nothing.

This place you directed me to:

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is also very close but not the same, but I was thinking, whether the actual internal parts may be usable. Whether I can use their item 7 to replace my turn knob cylinder (broken by the locksmith) and if their mortise has two pins guiding the deadbolt that I can move to my lock.

MC

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Reply to
miamicuse

I already called around, most are locksmith in a van that basically knows how to cut keys only. I took the lock apart and drove to a few nearby places and no one except this one can locate a replacement part. I am not asking for any installation. I can do it myself in 10 minutes. All I am asking for from him is a replacement mortise (or repair it but he can't). He located (I don't know how long it took him) a replacement part locally (don't know where, won't tell me) and said the replacement mortise is $250. That is the mortise and the turn cylinder he broke.

I will try BBB and see if they have additional locksmith I have not yet been to. Thanks,

MC

Reply to
miamicuse

doubt it.. each lock has their OWN idea of internal parts, so 'brand differences wont interchange'

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

go to

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see if there is anyone listed there local to you --Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

I ran into one similar a few years ago. The lock had failed in the locked position, and of course had to do some damage to the lock itself to get it open and removed. As you seen, you have to have access to the door edge to get access to the mounting and retaining screws to get anything out of these critters. Upon research to find a replacement, it was going to COST me to get the parts around $300 not including any mark up, plus my time to reinstall the lock, plus the time for the original opening. Total bill would have been around $500-$600. They chose just to replace the doors with normal doors and get rid of the cheap atrium style locks. As I seen someone else post here, they are cheap and junk and fail quite a bit. However they do look nice.

Reply to
Steve

I found a locksmith in the next town that was able to fix the deadbolt for me by inserting two pins in the original track (labor cost $10). He also replaced the broken cylinder the other locksmith damaged for about $40. So the other locksmith said to sell to me the cylinder at cost for $100 since he broke it, how can someone else sell it to me for $40 (and presumably made a profit!). So I paid $50 to get most of the problem resolved.

The only other thing to get which even this locksmith does not have in stock or don't know where he can get one, is the latch. Here is a few pictures of the latch. I was able to take a picture because I have two sets of these locks. I put a dime next to the latch so we know what size it is.

Mortise with latch on:

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Mortise with latch removed:

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One view of latch:

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Another view of latch:

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Long term I probably have to replace both locks with better quality know brand locks. But not sure what will work with the cut outs:

Cutout front view:

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Cutout edge view:
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Thanks in advance.

MC

Reply to
miamicuse

The problem is replacing the door will be expensive. And it is a metal entry door, so filling in holes and repainting like wood door is not possible in this case.

Thanks,

MC

Reply to
miamicuse

I found a locksmith in the next town that was able to fix the deadbolt for me by inserting two pins in the original track (labor cost $10). He also replaced the broken cylinder the other locksmith damaged for about $40. So the other locksmith said to sell to me the cylinder at cost for $100 since he broke it, how can someone else sell it to me for $40 (and presumably made a profit!). So I paid $50 to get most of the problem resolved.

The only other thing to get which even this locksmith does not have in stock or don't know where he can get one, is the latch. Here is a few pictures of the latch. I was able to take a picture because I have two sets of these locks. I put a dime next to the latch so we know what size it is.

Mortise with latch on:

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Mortise with latch removed:

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One view of latch:

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Another view of latch:

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Long term I probably have to replace both locks with better quality know brand locks. But not sure what will work with the cut outs:

Cutout fr>

Reply to
miamicuse

DonJo makes wonderful wrap-around plates that come in various metal finishes... A pair of them and a brand knew entry-set with a matching dummy knob or lever would work wonders...

But that is only an option for you to consider...

Evan, ~~ formerly a maintenance man, now a college student...

Reply to
Evan

I can look into retro kits. The wrap around thing won't work, because my metal door has a "lip" on it's end. It is a double door so one side sort of covers the other side a little bit, can probably see better in this pic:

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Thanks,

MC

Reply to
miamicuse

The door having a lip doesn't mean a damn thing to someone who knows how to modify the metal wrap around plate as needed...

It would be a more elaborate installation, but I have seen them done on older double doorways to replace ancient hardware... They look better if a second wrap-around plate and dummy trim are installed on the inactive side of the door...

But it is possible...

Evan, ~~ formerly a maintenance man, now a college student...

Reply to
Evan

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