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From: mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Deadbolts in metal doors advice needed
Message-ID: <1173@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-May-85 16:46:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.1173
Posted: Sun May 12 16:46:40 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 13-May-85 03:36:22 EDT
References: <731@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Oh
Lines: 33

We ran up against that problem too.  It seems that when you buy a house,
you get a break on your insurance rates if you have deadbolts, a fire
extinguisher, and smoke alarms.  We have metal doors.

If you go shopping, you'll find that the typical deadbolt needs to
have a pair of 2.5" holes cut in the door, and a .75" hole in the
edge of the door for the bolt.  It's not hard to find 2.5" hole saws,
although they will swear up and down on the labels that they are for
wood only.  Finding a .75" drill bit is darn near impossible, hole
saws don't go that small, and .75" bits cost an arm and a leg and
require a 1/2" drill.  (If you own a drill, it's almost certainly
a 1/4" or 3/8", too small for a .75" bit.)  I hate to think of the
amount of work involved in getting a .75" hole drilled in metal, too.
Figure at least $50 for a drill that size, plus $10 for the bit -
almost makes it seem worthwhile to call that locksmith.

Fortunately, we lucked out.  We happened to look at the end of our
door where the .75" hole would be drilled, and found that there was a
plastic cover over a predrilled .75" hole!  So all we had to do was
buy 2.5" hole saws.  (Check your door - I suspect this is standard.)

The reason these hole saws are not intended for metal is that they
are made out of an incredibly cheap metal themselves.  You will wear
down all the teeth on the hole saw in the process of cutting your hole.
However, given the alternative (call a locksmith) we tried it out.

We had to do two doors - front and back, a total of 4 holes.  We went
through 3 hole saws before getting all 4 holes cut.  The holes came out
a bit ragged (as we were grinding our way through the door more than cutting)
but the deadbolt covers the ugly spots.  The most annoying part was
having to make 3 trips to the hardware store for another hole saw.

	Mark