How to Drill a Door Knob Hole

Learning how to drill a door knob hole is an easy DIY new homeowners need to learn. With the right tools, it’s a breeze!

I recently had to bore a new door knob hole and replace an interior door in a friend’s house. Most tutorials use a jig, but I found using a hole saw and drill was the easiest way to do it without special tools. I also chiseled the hinges and show you how to hang a new door from start to finish.

Chiseling the Hinges of the New Door

Typically a door you buy at the hardware store needs the door knob hole drilled and the hinges chiseled. The first thing do is take a hinge off the door that’s broken to use as a template to chisel out the hinges for the new door. Make sure you measure on the new door how far down/in each hinge needs to be. Mark with a pencil and then trace your old hinge on the new door. Using a chisel set, carefully chisel around the line, making sure you don’t get too deep. When chiseling take your time and go slowly – you’d rather take out too little than too much! The chiseling doesn’t need to be perfectly level, but should be close.

Preparing the New Door Knob Hole

Remove the old door knob from the old door, then measure the center of the door knob hole from the edge of the door and mark the new door. Repeat for the latch hole. You can see the whole measuring process I use in the video at the top of this post.

Drilling the Door Knob Hole

Using a hole saw, we line the drill bit up with the mark we made in the previous step. You can buy an assembly to ensure your drill is held perfectly perpendicular, but it’s pretty easy if you hold the door to make sure everything is right up and down. DO NOT DRILL AT AN ANGLE! Repeat with the appropriate drill-bit for the latch.

After drilling the holes, you can follow the directions that came with your hardware for installation! Be sure to check out the video for any details you may not understand!