A customer in Ashford called because the front door had been jammed shut for a couple of days. They had been using the back door instead, so there was no immediate emergency, but the failed multipoint system still needed sorting.
Once on site, I confirmed that the gearbox had failed.
I removed the handles to get a clearer look at the mechanism, only for one of the handle screws to shear off and create an entirely separate problem.
To reach the failed gearbox and release the door, I had to remove the cylinder and work directly on the mechanism. The actual opening, gearbox replacement and cylinder replacement went reasonably well.
Ironically, the most time-consuming part of the whole job was the tiny broken handle screw. Extracting it and repairing the damaged thread took longer than opening the door and replacing the failed locking components.
Once that was finally sorted, I reassembled everything, tested the multipoint system and left the front door opening, closing and locking normally again.
