by agentz »
Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:04 am
Hi
A friend of mine recently moved in to a ground floor flat that had this issue with the front door. When she lifted the handle, only the centre bold and the top bolt came out of the door, the bottom one didn't move at all.
If the problem you're having is similar, then it's probably a fairly simple fix - on my friends door it was simply a screw that had come out.
You should be able to remove the inner and outer handles of the door, remove the handle spindle. There will probably be a single screw in the middle of the edge of the door that holds the lock barrel in place - remove it and put it somewhere safe. Then remove all the screws that hold the locking mechanism and metal plate. With a little gentle persuasion then entire locking mechanism should pop out of the door.
What you'll probably find is the long vertical locking mechanism will be in three parts, the central one with the actual lock will have a short vertical bar, and attached to this will be two extension bars, with cams on that control the locking hooks. On my friends door all that had happened was that the locking screw that joined the middle bar to the bottom one had come off and fell inside the door. All I had to do was simply find the correct size screw, reattach the two pieces and reassemble. Presto, fully working locking mechanism.
A local DG company wanted to replace the entire locking mechanism at a cost of upwards of £200, all for the sake of a screw less than 7mm long.
Obviously, if you do this it's at your own risk, and you could potentially end up with a totally non-locking door!
Good luck.
