Old Door Refurb - Rim Locks

[northstar]

We have 4 old doors upstairs that I want to refurbish. From the marks on the doors, they obviously had rim locks originally, but at some point these have been removed and replaced with noisy ball catches.

I'd like to go back to rim locks, but haven't been able to find any suitable due to a) the keyhole being above the line of the spindle hole and b) the keyhole and spindle hole only being 40mm apart (60mm and 100mm from the door edge respectively).

The doors are bare wood, so there's no simple fill and repaint fix.

It looks like some of the sided rim locks could fit (albeit with a new spindle hole) but only if fitted upside down as the keyhole on most of these seems to be at the bottom. I've no idea how that would affect the lock. Do they rely on gravity at all?

Is there any convincing way to cover old holes? The finger plates someone fitted to the downstairs doors do the job, but its obvious why they're there.

thanks

 

[foxhole]

Do you need them to lock? they are available without keyholes.




http://www.screwfix.com/p/olde-rim-lock-black/47768?_requestid=1143990

 

[northstar]

I guess locking is optional, though I'd rather avoid ones with a 'privacy' bolt, much as the kids would probably love them...

 

[foxhole]

You can remove bolt.

 

[northstar]

Thanks, I might give that a go.