Door Hardware Tips

All of our unique designs are inspired by authentic historic patterns. Shop 4 Classics offers timeless designs that have been popular for over a century such as the medieval elegance of the Egg & Dart pattern to the classic sophistication of the New York pattern.

The influence of the Greek Revival of the early to mid-1800’s is evident in the fun and fancy Meadows pattern. The beaded details blend well with mouldings, wall coverings, and home furnishings.

The Victorian patterns reflect the elaborate and ornate designs from the Victorian era which lasted from the early 1800’s through the turn of the century.

The more subtle Prairie pattern emerged around 1915 as an alternative to the extravagant Victorian designs.

And finally, the Deco pattern which is as trend setting today as it was in the 1930’s.

At Shop 4 Classics you have many options. Unless you are restoring a period room and require historically correct hardware, you do not need to limit yourself to a specific pattern. Choose the pattern that best fits you and your home.

Shop 4 Classics offers latches in four basic varieties: passage, privacy, mortise, and dummy (which is not really a latch at all).

Passage sets latch a door closed but do not provide a lock. These tubular latches are common for hall and closet doors.

Privacy sets are similar to passage sets except that they have a pin on one side that locks the latch to keep unwanted guests from entering a room. Privacy latches are perfect for a bedroom or a bathroom. Shop 4 Classics' privacy latches have an emergency release capability to unlock the door from the outside if necessary.

Mortise locks are box-shaped locks which fit in a mortise in the door stile. Our mortise locks are designed for antique, full mortise doors. These high-quality, English interior mortise lock sets are keyed on both sides and include two steel "skeleton" keys. All of our mortise locks are keyed alike.

Dummy sets (or non-active) are for non-latching doors. A spindle protrudes from a base which is screwed directly onto the door. The door knobs do not turn when used with dummy sets.

Backset is the distance from the center of the knob spindle (the cross bar on which the knob is mounted) to the latch-edge of the door. If there’s a pre-drilled hole in the stile (vertical member of the door), make sure the backset matches it. Our mortise locks have a 2 1/4" backset while tube latches (privacy and passage) are available with a standard 2 3/8" backset or an optional 2 3/4" backset.

Handing of doors is only important when selecting levers. Always determine handing by standing on the exterior (outside) of the door. The exterior of the door refers to the side of the door that faces away from the room when the door is closed. The location of the hinges determine the hand (hinges on the left = left hand door, hinges on the right = right hand door). Standard doors open to the interior. Reverse doors open towards the exterior.

If the door is latched with a privacy lock, be sure to order a doorplate that is drilled with a hole for the privacy pin. Doorplates with a privacy lock hole will be specifically labeled as such. All other latches (passage, mortise, and dummy) will use a standard doorplate.

Do not confuse the privacy lock hole with a keyhole. Many of our doorplates are available with or without a keyhole, while others are only available with a keyhole. The keyhole is functional when used with a mortise lock but is only decorative for tube latches and dummy sets. Regardless of the presence of a keyhole, a separate hole is drilled in the backplate if it is designed for use with a privacy latch.

Roses must match the type of latch that you intend to use them with. Our privacy and passage roses are installed back-to-back with machine screws. The two machine screws fit through the holes drilled in the face of one plate into the holes in the back of the other plate. These plates are made to fit modern 2 1/8" pre-drilled doors. The privacy plates have an extra hole to accommodate the locking pin.

Mortise roses are meant to screw into a door with wood screws. They are meant to be used with a mortise lock but can be used for other purpose. When a rose is used with a mortise lock, a separate keyhole cover is used to cover the hole drilled in the door for the skeleton key.

Dummy roses are meant to be used over a dummy spindle. Rather than screw holes, a doorknob must be installed over them to keep them in place.

Pushplates are installed above the doorknob. In many old houses, pushplates were installed on the butler’s pantry door to protect wood doors from grimy fingerprints. Today, they are still useful to protect doors from wear and to add a distinctive touch to otherwise ordinary doors.