How to Install Deadbolts in Doors

Place the template provided with the deadbolt over the door's edge. The height of the deadbolt is up to you. Most deadbolts are placed above the doorknob, at approximately chest height. Use a center punch to mark the drilling locations on the door's interior side and edge.

Drill a 2 1/8-inch hole through the door, starting on the interior side's center-punch mark. When the drill bit breaks through the other side, remove the boring bit from the door's interior side and bring it around to the exterior side and finish boring the hole.

Drill a 1-inch hole through the door's edge. Line up the boring bit's point with the punch mark on the door's edge and drill until the bit extends into the 2 1/8-inch hole you previously bored.

Insert the deadbolt's latch into the 1-inch hole. Trace around the latch's faceplate with a utility knife. Remove the latch and chisel out the wood, using a 1 1/2-inch wood chisel and a hammer, from inside the tracing, so the faceplate's surface is flush with the door's edge. Secure the latch in place with the provided screws.

Measure the door's thickness. If it is 1 3/8 inches thick, slide the provided spacer onto the exterior deadbolt cylinder. Slide the cylinder's spindle through the latch's hole and center it over the 2 1/8-inch hole on the door's exterior side.

Slide the trim ring onto the exterior cylinder's spindle protruding into the door's interior side. Center the trim ring over the 2 1/8-inch hole on the interior side. Secure the trim ring to the door with the provided screws. Position the interior cylinder over the trim ring and secure it in place with the provided screw.

Close the door and turn the deadbolt so the latch hits against the opening's side jamb. Many latches have a marking punch on them which will mark the jamb to indicate where to put the deadbolt's latch catch. If your latch does not have a marking punch, color the latch's end with a felt-tipped marker.

Set the latch catch's faceplate on the door jamb. Trace around the faceplate's outer edge as well as the circular hole in the center. Set the faceplate aside. Bore a 1-inch hole into the circular center tracing. Use a chisel to square out the hole and make it deep enough for the latch catch's dustbox to fit inside.

Trace around the faceplate's outline with a utility knife. Chisel out the wood inside the outline so the faceplate sits flush with the door edge's surface. Insert the dustbox into the chiseled-out hole and secure the faceplate to the door's edge with the provided screws.