THREE INEXPENSIVE TOOLS THAT MAKE INSTALLING A DOOR SO MUCH EASIER.

A new door on your house can make it stand out for the rest of the neighborhood. Curb appeal is still the #1 item that potential house buys look for when making that leap. Though there are many things one can do when trying to spruce up their house, one of the cheapest, most eye catching projects is replacing you old dingy door with a new one. 

Although doors are somewhat easy to install, they can be tricky for someone that has never replaced one before. Many of the doors you can buy today are pre-drilled, but even then you still need to add the hinges. Luckily for us, tool manufactures have really made this task simple. Talking to my father-in-law, I swear the only tools people ever owned was a hammer and chisel. Even though there are still those talented enough to install a door only using those basic tools, most of us (including myself) are not, so we are going to look at a few cool little tools that can make the door hanging process as easy as 1, 2 and 3.   

The first jig on our list is the (door lock instillation kit). This is probably the most important tool of the instillation process as it gives you perfect hole alignment for not only your door knob, but you latch as well. Many different tool manufactures have their own version of this jig, but we really found the Milwaukee kit to be the best. What’s nice about this kit is that it comes with everything you need to make perfect holes every time. Not only will you get two hole saws (2-1/8” for knob & 1” for the latch), but you get four drill bits, a spacer and an arbor bit as well.       

What really sets this apart from the others is the clamping system. On a few of the other kits we tried, the only way to attach this to the door was to screw it in with two screws in the front side. Those kits were hard to keep from moving, and increased the chances of ruining the door we were cutting. This Milwaukee jig actually has a tightening mechanism that is easy to use. Just slide it on the door and crack, that’s all it takes for it to attach. Once you get that step completed, just drill out your holes, and your ready for the next step.

The next tool to make your life easier when installing a new door is the very inexpensive Ryobi door latch installation kit. This tool will only run you around $10.00, and it’s worth every last penny. Not only will this this score the door latch area, and has a very cool built in chisel attached to the top of the head which allows you to remove the scored wood easily.

One of the coolest functions of this tool is that it will allow you to make not only square latch knockouts, but rounded corner knockouts as well. All you need to do is take out the black metal insert, flip it around and insert it again. Once you get it all lined up with the pre-drilled hole, smack it with a hammer a few times, and just use the small chisel to clean out the wood within the lines. It literally takes about a minute to create a perfectly made latch insert, and you can use it over and over again.

The third item is probably one of the most innovative tools that I have come across yet. It’s really set up to be used with a wood router, but you could also use it to simply trace out a hinge outline if you wanted. What’s so great about this hinge template, is that it can adjust from 3” to 5” wide so you can rout a mortise for many differ types of brackets. It also had a depth gauge for you router bit, and even comes with a flush cut bit so you can get started right away. With all that said, it also allows you to create square or rounded cuts while staying secured tightly to the door once secured by the built in vice.  

Ryobi also thought about the end user as they designed this to work with just about any router. Just make a few adjustments and you’re ready to go. The only downside to this template is that you can’t use it on the door frame, only the door itself. This is a fantastic tool that really stands alone in the time saving department that will give you a clean, smooth hinge mortise every time.

These cheap little tools help anyone from the diy’er to the pros that do this for a living. Remember, time is money, and these tools will definitely help you save both.