Lock Replacement in Salem, OR

Matching new hardware to Salem doors

Lock replacement takes out the old lock and fits new hardware. It makes sense when a lock is broken or worn past repair, or when you want something the old one cannot do, such as a deadbolt where there is none.

The door decides much of the job:

• Gaiety Hill–Bush's Pasture Park. Listed on the National Register in 1986 and covering 143 acres, this district's most common style is the Craftsman bungalow. An original door can have openings cut for older hardware, and a modern lockset may not cover them without a trim plate or further cutting.
• Court Street–Chemeketa Street. Listed in 1987. Court Street's larger, older houses may need matching hardware on several doors, so a plan for the whole house helps before anything is ordered.
• 1970s houses. Nearly one Salem home in six went up in that decade (16.3 percent). A door with standard bored holes often takes a current lockset without recutting, so measure the backset and door thickness before ordering anything.
• Manufactured homes. Their locksets are often sized for thinner doors, so a standard lockset from a hardware store may not fit.

Historic district rules for doors

SRC 230.200 lists both residential districts among Salem's historic districts. Under SRC 230.020(a)(2)(A), in-kind maintenance or repair that keeps the existing form needs no historic design review, and the code gives replacing broken hardware as an example. A door is treated differently. In residential districts, Table 230-1 of SRC 230.020 makes an in-kind replacement of a door on a historic contributing building a Class 1 minor review, and other door replacements on a primary facade a Class 3 major review. Whether a lockset in a different style still counts as in kind is a question for the City of Salem.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Photos and measurements to send

Send photos of both sides of the lock and of the door edge, the door thickness, and what you want the new lock to do. Say if the house is in a historic district. If the lock only sticks or the latch misses, lock repair may be enough. The Salem page describes the districts.