Door Furniture Direct Combat Breaking Screw Heads with Door Handle DIY Guide

Door Furniture Direct, a leading UK retailer for door latches and other door furniture, has publishing a trouble shooting guide to help customers when fitting their own products. The guide is designed to help DIY enthusiasts avoid breaking off screw head when installing door handles.
Since the screw head is exposed on the door handle, it not only serves a purpose but also contributes to the appearance of the finished product. For this reason most are plated to match the door, but despite their appearance virtually all are made of brass. Brass is a soft metal, and screws for door handles are small; meaning that great care must be taken when installing them.
The step by step guide from Door Furniture Direct recommends a series of techniques which will safeguard the screws from damage. It is assumed within these guidelines that door latches and locks have already been installed.
The Door Furniture Direct Guidelines are as follows:
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1. With the door handle held in the fixing position, carefully mark the position for one screw (say the top right if you are right handed). Your mark needs to be dead centre of the fixing hole and the handle needs to be in the correct fitting position with the spindle inserted and properly aligned. Dead centre can usually be found with the taper on a pencil tip or with a tapered centre punch.
2. Remove the handle away from the door and drill an appropriate size pilot hole exactly on your mark. Ensure the drill does not skid off the mark when doing this (risk of door damage!). It can be helpful to make an indent in the wood with a bradawl and use a split point drill bit.
3. The pilot hole will be slightly smaller than the screw diameter to give the fixing screw some bite, but do not put the finished screw in yet.
4. Obtain a steel self-tapping screw the same size and length as the installation wood screws. Companies like Heritage Brass provide this screw in their fixing packs; you can locate it by the different zinc plated finish and it will be threaded all the way to the head. With the handle off the door, screw this screw into the pilot hole to cut a thread for the fixing screw. Take care and use the correct size screw driver when doing this, since there is a risk of door damage if the screw driver slips off.
5. Place the handle back onto the door with the spindle inserted and carefully start to fit the single installation fixing screw. It should thread into the pre-cut thread easily without any undue force. Do not fully tighten the screw yet, just take it into the countersink while you carefully line up the handle, then just gently grip the handle in place with the screw.
6. Once lined up, mark the remaining screw positions as before in a dead centre position. Now remove the single installation screw and the handle from the door and you can repeat the process; drilling pilot holes and cutting threads for each screw using the steel self-tapping screw. Depending on how confident you are about the positions, you may wish to just do one further hole and check the other marks before drilling them. You may need a small torch to see the marks inside the handle fixing holes.
7. With all threads cut, the handle can be screwed to the door with the finished fixing installation screws. Use the correct size screw driver and do not over tighten. If resistance is felt do not force the screw, remove it and investigate. A screwdriver slip, typically caused by undue force, will likely scratch your handle!

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Alistair Boyd

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Door Furniture Direct

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