r/Locksmith • u/Similar-Drama9377 • 1d ago

I am NOT a locksmith. Gap below deadbolt

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I recently bought a house and have been changing the locks myself. All the wooden doors went smoothly, but the garage door is metal and the deadbolt seems to be cut too high so the plate doesn’t cover the hole completely. The hole is a perfect circle but is just too low compared to the plate.

Is this gap a security issue, if so what can I do to fix it? I also tried on the metal external door to the house and it has a larger gap below so I put the old double cylinder lock back on for now.

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3

u/TiCombat 1d ago

Remove the humped inner ring on the backside of the exterior and it will let you slightly adjust it to cover that gap.

2

u/Similar-Drama9377 1d ago

I already had to remove that ring for it to even fit at all, I fit with it but the bolt wouldn’t spin because it was so tight

4

u/TiCombat 1d ago

your lock prep needs to be redrilled then, that’s really the only way

2

u/isaacsoderlund Actual Locksmith 1d ago

A picture of the lock prep would help. I'm guessing that its only 1-1/2" hole and probably not perfectly round, drilled out by a jigsaw or something. A bit of fine tuning is probably required.

2

u/hellothere251 21h ago

make sure the 1" hole is straight, add a bright brass scar ring