A customer in Sunbury called because she was locked out. She had the key, but the door simply wasn’t opening.
Once on site, I opened the door through the letterbox using the appropriate tool. The cylinder was still working and the multipoint mechanism wasn’t completely seized. The problem was that the outside handle wasn’t retracting the mechanism far enough to release the door.
With the door open, I wasn’t particularly optimistic about the mechanism. It was a good 20-plus years old and I fully expected it to need replacing. Luckily, once I stripped it down, I found a fault that could actually be repaired.
One of the rivets holding the case plate together had loosened. That allowed the spindle section to move independently from the rest of the mechanism and eventually caused it to jam.
Rather than replace the whole multipoint lock, I drilled a new hole in the case, threaded it and fitted a screw with metal adhesive to secure everything properly — permanent fix, one does hope 😆.
It’s been nearly a year since the repair and I haven’t heard anything back, so fingers crossed the old mechanism is still going strong 👌.
