A customer in Sunbury-on-Thames got in touch after the handle on a garden bi-fold door broke while he was trying to open it.
My first thought was that something inside the door had jammed and the extra force on the handle had caused it to fail.
Once I operated the door using another tool, however, the mechanism itself moved normally. The broken handle appeared to be a straightforward wear failure rather than a sign of a jammed multipoint system.
These handles are not standard van-stock items, so I ordered the correct genuine replacements.
Because the second handle on the same bi-fold set was of the same age and likely to wear in a similar way, I suggested that the customer order two and keep one as a spare rather than risk being caught without the correct part later.
A few days later I returned, fitted the replacement handle and tested the bi-fold door operation.
The door was working normally again, with a matching spare available for the future if the second handle eventually failed.
