Lockset Removal the Dummies Way

Doorknob mounting plate

The staff handypersons here at the Antisocial Network tell us that swapping out a door lockset may well be one of the most simple tasks a homeowner can perform. Yet, for some odd reason, we see a surprising number of do-it-yourself posts supposedly answering hoe-to questions regarding installation or replacement of doorknobs and locksets. We guess everyone has to earn sometime, right? The problem being, of course that you definitely need to learn from someone who already knows how... and that leaves out Carl Pruit, at least based on his Hunker.com post "How to Remove an Emtek Lockset."

Of course we can't blame it all on Pruit, since he was just rewording a post he found online, a post that – to be frank – wasn't very well written in the first place. Carl's ignorance, however, is obvious; as is his laziness. According to Carl, all you do to remove an Emtek lockset is,

1. Release the "special clip on the inside of the door shank" and remove the door handle
2. "[Remove] the mounting plate by hand."
3. "Remove the latch assembly and doorknob from the opposite side of the door, sliding it out by hand."
4. "Unfasten the door jamb plate with a small screwdriver and slide the Emtek lockset door latch out of the door by hand."

That same staff handyperson looked at Pruit's instructions and said, "That ain't gonna work." Here's why:

1. Not all Emtek locksets have a "special clip," some of them have set screws that have to be removed.
2. Carl neglected to mention removing the rosette.
3. He didn't mention (or even seem to know) that the two sides of the lockset are secured by a pair of screws that must be removed.
4. That's not the "latch assembly," that's the cylinder.
5. Removing the "door jamb plate" will not release the latch, Carl!

Not only did Pruit botch copying the general instructions he found, he didn't bother to look at Emtek's website, where he would have found more than a dozen variations on installation and removal instructions. In other words, he left visitors just as ignorant after reading his content as they were when the got there, the very definition of a Dumbass of the Day.

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