Builders Hardware Guides

A Kawneer aluminum entrance needs a part. Here is how to tell the 1686 concealed rod exit device from the 1786 rim device, which pivots and closers Kawneer lists for its doors, where its manual shows them and what to have ready before you order.

A Precision 2000 number such as 2103 gives the series, the device type and the function. Read it, note wide or narrow stile, and find the ELR, MLR, cylinder dogging, alarm and monitoring kits the maker lists for that device.

Fixing a Pfister faucet? Start with its model number, then read the part number the way Pfister writes it: what the 974-, 950-, 941- and 962- prefixes cover, what the finish letters mean, and where cartridges, sprayheads and aerators are listed.

Replacing a worn ABH wall, dome or floor stop? See how the AB403, AB404 and AB405 differ, which dome ABH marks for doors with or without a threshold, and what the EXP and T versions add.

Replacing a Corbin Russwin mortise, rim or key-in-lever cylinder, or an LFIC core? Read numbers such as CR1000-118-A01-6-L4 field by field, see what CL6 means in a lock title, and check keyways, construction cores and control keys before you order.

A wobbling lever, a lost spanner wrench, a spare key or a door thicker than the set? Each calls for a different small Emtek part. Emtek's guides and specifications cover the set screw, the rosette wrenches, the Schlage C keyway and the longer spindles for thick doors; for springs, send us the set's item number first.

A worn top arm on a Calibre overhead concealed closer, or storefront pivots to replace? Calibre's catalog gives each top arm the top rail depth it needs, sets the JO and VO offset arms apart and lists the PV-1000 and other pivot sets by door and hand.

Ordering only the body or only the trim for a Schlage L9000 mortise lock? Match the function number, lock case, hand and trim pack the way Schlage's service manual and price book list them, plus armor front, strike and spindle.

Replacing or rekeying a Schlage cylinder on a mortise lock, an exit device or an IC housing? Schlage's price book and L Series manual show how the number ties a cylinder to its lock, cam, length, keyway and finish, and which keys suit construction cores.

Replacing a mortise or rim cylinder with a GMS part? The number holds the length, keyway, finish, cam and keying. Here is how to read codes such as M118SC10BATA2, R118KW10BA2 and ICM726DST, and what the AR and AT cam codes mean.