Firstly I must say sorry as I think I'm on the wrong page!! I need help with my Grandfathers front door lock, he has a white upvc front door fitted but when he shuts when he comes home from shopping people can still walk in from the street, I don't think this is right. the door does not pull up from the inside either so he has to lock it with a key all of the time. his handle is the normal looking upvc door handle but on the outside he has a stubby handle not the same as the inside one. would it be the case of the wrong handle/s fitted? or would the whole locking mechanism to the door have to be changed, so he can just close the door (though the day) and be sure that nobody can walk in from the street?? Many thanks for your help. Rob.
I could be mistaken & the experts will correct me if I am wrong It sounds like the handles cpuld possibly be fitted the wrong way round & the stubby handle should be on the inside
The handles are on the right way , its called a pad handle it sounds like the mech had gone in the gearbox, you may be able to replace just the box , all depends on the make
Hi, Many thanks to all for your help in this matter, Mr Handyandy, yes the door stays shut when he closes it. so just to recap, if I change the door handles to both sides with a new one will this solve the problem? Thanks again Rob.
With the door open, when you pull the handle up to engage the locking bolts/hooks/cams, do they slide up/down or in/ out as they should? If they function normally then the gear box is ok. If they don't and the handles are floppy then the handles may need changing. The other thing to check is , if you take the handles off ( there are only a couple of screws holding them on ) there may be two spindles ( one into each handle ) and a spring on each spindle that keeps it in the correct position in the lock. Sometimes these springs become worn and allow the the spindle to travel a bit further into the lock so that it operates the latch from the outside without the use of a key . You may only need to replace these springs which are fairly cheap on the web. Bear in mind that the spindles are different lengths and the shorter of the two goes on the outside of the door. Good luck Mike