Locks 'n Keys

Finding Parts for Older Atrium Doors

In the 1980′s, the Atrium Door Company began building wood patio doors. They designed a door that maximized view by putting a bigger glass panel in the door. Soon afterwards, any similar type door starting being called an Atrium door, just like Q-tips became the name for cotton swabs.

But more glass in the door meant less wood to mount a lock in. Most residential door locks have a backset of 2-3/8 inches. This means that the distance from the edge of the door to where the handle mounts is 2-3/8 inches. This type of lock would not fit the new style of Atrium door.

National Lock came up with a design for a few locks with a 2 inch backset to fit Atrium style doors. Later they were purchased by Amerock who continued to manufacture the 2 inch backset National locks. Amerock eventually got of the lock business and stopped making the National type locks.

Newer Atrium doors used a mortise lock with the deadbolt and lever set in one mechanism. This is also a hard to find item, since it also only fit Atrium doors.

To make things even harder for Atrium door owners, the Atrium Door Company stopped producing the original Atrium door and now do not honor any of the warranties on their older style door.

So it has become the door owner’s burden to find replacement locks for their Atrium door. If you are an Atrium door owner, you are not alone in search. Atrium built a great door with great hardware.

It is unfortunate that now, when Atrium door hardware is finally starting to fail that manufacturers of their parts are hard to find. But they are out there. Everything from the 2 inch backset handleset to the Fuhr multipoint lock in available. It just takes a little work to find.