A returning customer in Ashford got in touch because a garden back door at a rental property would no longer open. On an earlier visit I had already mentioned that something in the mechanism did not feel quite right, but the decision at the time was to leave it until it actually failed.
This time it had definitely failed. Even with access from both sides, getting the door open took around 15 minutes of trying different methods.
Once the multipoint mechanism was off the door, the extent of the damage became obvious. The gearbox had literally sheared in half. It was one of the worst failures I had seen, although after roughly 20 years of service it had certainly done its share of work.
The correct replacement was not something I normally kept in van stock because of the cost, so I fitted a temporary overnight latch to make sure the door could still be secured.
I returned the following day with a new genuine replacement mechanism, fitted it and tested the door. The garden door was back in normal operation, and hopefully the replacement will manage at least a respectable fraction of the life of the original.
