A customer in Sandhurst got in touch because a garden door was blocked shut and would not open no matter what they tried.
When I tested it, the multipoint mechanism was completely solid. The key would not produce even the slightest movement. Looking through the glazing, I noticed that the inside lever sat at the same height as the long handle faceplate, which made me hope there might be a double-spindle arrangement hidden underneath.
Once the handles came off, there it was. That little detail made a big difference because it gave me another way to operate the failed system and meant the door could be opened in seconds without sacrificing the cylinder.
With the door open and the mechanism removed, the cause became obvious. A small piece of metal had sheared away from one of the gearbox’s internal moving parts and had jammed the whole system solid.
I had the correct gearbox in stock, fitted the replacement and tested the complete multipoint mechanism. The door was opening, closing and locking normally again without the extra cost of replacing a cylinder that had not actually failed.
