UPVC door lock 'broken'....

[Adrian]

Hi All The new studio was fitted with a nice new white UPVC door - standard 'front door' I guess.

The locking mechanism used to engage by closing the door and then lifting the handle - which shot home three or four bolts on the side of the door.

Recently there's been a procession of plumbers & etc in & out of this door. Now I find that the door mechanism seems to be broken !

The normal spring-loaded door catch seems to be stuck in the retracted position, and you can't lift the door handle in order to operate the locking bolts. A quick investigate allowed me to remove the lock barrel - but this didn't seem to make any difference...

Further investigation seems to involve dismantling the bolt mechanism recessed in the opening side of the door. Any clues as to where the problem may lie - or reassurances that I'm not going to end up releasing a bag full of 'pingfuckits'...?

Thanks in advance Adrian

[Dave]

I am no expert on this, but I would bet that this is your problem. If the door catch does not come out and latch into the jam, the rest of the locking system will be unable to work. Look at the door catch and determine that is central in both vertical and horizontal planes. If not, pull down on the handle and try to move the latch so that it pops out when you let go of the handle. They usually climb in the door, When the handle is pushed down, so that a downwards push on the catch lets it get back out again.

I have a similar problem on an internal door. When the grandchildren come up, they pull the handle so far down that this nearly 30 year old door's catch locks into the door and wont come out to latch it to fasten. I had to file a chamfer on one corner of the catch.

Another problem with them and number one son is that they tend to pull up our front door handle when it is open (this is exactly as your faulty door should work to lock it with the key) and they can't pull the door to because the latch is locked in an extended position.

I doubt that the fault will be there.

Before you get to this point, it will be to your advantage to call in the original installer of the door. If it is the latch getting stuck inside the door, then it is their problem and they should fix it for free. Much less cost than trying to find all those pingfuckets :-)

I am at the wrong end of a bad day, so I hope you understand all that I have written

Dave

[Adrian]

Yes - in order for the locking mechanism to work it seems that the hande-operated spring-loaded latch has first to engage with the door frame. As the latch is 'stuck' in the retracted position, the lock can't operate. This also means that the door won't latch by simply pulling it....

Understood

Yes - the opposite cause to mine - but the same effect

I think you're right

The door was a 'ready-made' one - which was put in by the Shedman, who construted the timber-built studio. If you think it's difficult geetting hold of tradespeople in the UK (apologies to Mr Handyman !) - then you ought to try it out here in rural Ireland.

I agree that it's his reponsibility - but I'd like to fix it before Christmas - hence the d-i-y approach...

Perfectly - thanks ! Adrian

[John]

Have you tried lubrication in case something has stuck or seized?

[Adrian]

No - I haven't... but the door's only been installed for a few months

- I'd have thought it's not had time to get seized.....

I think I'm going to have to brave the pingfuckits....

To make it more exciting - the wall that the door is fitted in carries a display of 1" x 3" stained glass samples - and when unsuspecting people slam the door (expecting it to self-latch) all the glass rattles and threatens to dive onto the floor - so it's fairly important to sort the problem...

Thanks Adrian

[RobertL]

Has somone locked it in th e'open' position? try putting the key in and turning it right round in the usual "unlock" direction.

maybe one of the pumbers did this to avoid being locked out.

R