A customer in East Molesey got in touch because the key had become stuck in the front-door lock and the door was blocked shut.
That was only the start of the job.
To gain access to the failed gearbox, I removed the cylinder and worked directly on the multipoint mechanism. On this occasion the opening went well and the door was released in under 15 minutes without causing additional damage to the door itself.
Once the system was exposed properly, the condition of the existing installation became clear. Two of the four locking points were missing their heads, and several of the frame keeps had only been fixed with one screw instead of two.
I had not worked on this particular multipoint model before, so the next challenge was finding a suitable replacement.
The original system could still be ordered, but the quoted lead time was around five to six weeks, with some related parts taking even longer. The customer did not want to leave the door in a temporary state for that long.
I therefore sourced a similar replacement mechanism that was available from stock and could be adapted to the existing door with some changes to the keep positions.
The customer agreed to the additional parts needed to do the conversion properly, so I fitted the replacement mechanism, repositioned and secured the keeps and worked through the adjustments until the locking points lined up correctly.
By the end, the door was opening and locking far better than it had before, with the multipoint system finally sitting and engaging as it should.
