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Locksmiths Questions

Our expert locksmiths have kindly agreed to share their wisdom on such topics as lock fitting and repair, key cutting or replacement, door unlocking, modifying locks, window locks, safe installations and additional security measures.

160 Locksmiths questions

What are the best security locks for an external wooden door

I am moving into a new flat and I want to improve the lock security on the front door. At the moment it only has a night latch, so I want to change this for a new one that complies with BS3621 and then add a deadlock. I would appreciate any advise on what are the best locks to get. Is a euro cylinder lock more secure than a 5 lever mortise deadlock? Or is there little difference?
Thanks

Upvc door key wont turn fully and door won't lock

My lock on my door stopped working a few days ago and I was advised that it would be a Eurolink cam lock and this was easy to change which I did today but the key won't fully turn still and therefore door won't lock. any advice

How to replace lockable door handles with normal ones?

I have two internal door handles I want to replace. One is a backplate handle with a thumbturn lock built in. Is it OK just to replace this with a normal rose door handle, no lock?

The other has a rose with a separate thumbturn lock. It has also lost its rose cover. I have managed to remove the lock cylinder, but can't seem to get out the rest of the lockset (right term?) from the edge of the door - I think one of the screws in the face plate (right term?) is bent. I haven't yet tried removing the door handle. Would it be possible just to replace the handle and fill in the cylinder lock hole, that goes through the door from front to back??

Is It Fair To Be Charged For Work That Didn’t Fix The Problem?

I hired someone to fix the lock on an pvc front door that wouldn’t hold shut when pushed closed and would only latch closed if the handle was pushed up after pushing the door closed. When he came to quote for the work, the door did actually latch shut when pushed closed but I explained that this was not usually the case and usually the handle had to be pushed up for the door to hold in place. He told me it didn’t matter as he would change the lock. I also told him that while I was getting this job done I might as well get him to change the handle and letterbox at the same time to make the door look better.

I was away when he did the work but he invoiced me for the work with the message that the work had all been done. Speaking with my son who was at home, he said the workman had done the work but had told him something couldn’t be fixed. On questioning the locksmith he then told me he had changed the cylinder but the door mechanism was faulty and needed to be changed if I wanted the door to lock. He told me a new mechanism would cost around £300 if he was able to get hold of the same mechanism (which seemed doubtful). He told me he also changed the handle and letterbox and asked me to pay him asap.

This has left me with a door with the exact same problem it had before the work was done but with a new lock that doesn’t work and a new handle and letterbox. This is on a door that will now need to be thrown away and replaced with a new one (which seems better value than £300 + labour for a new mechanism).

I would have expected a decent tradesman to have realised the problem with the door mechanism if not at the time of quoting for the work then at least while fitting the cylinder and then stopped the work, put the old cylinder back and told me about the problem and asked if I still wanted the handle and letterbox changed as it would cost so much to fix the door mechanism. I would expect him then to charge me no more than reasonable labour for the work he had done (he was already at the house doing an additional £240 of work that I had no issue with). Instead he wants to be paid the full amount.

I understand that work has been done to change the cylinder, letterbox and handle but the door still has the problem I hired him to fix and I do not understand why he continued replacing the letterbox and handle on a door that he must have known would need to be replaced.

Any thoughts on how much I should pay him? The quote was £180 and he is asking me to pay the full amount. Thanks for any advice/comments.

ERA Dead Lock Won't Lock / Unlock

I have an ERA dead lock fitted on my flat door and one day it suddenly stopped working, and I was locked out.

I was able to turn the key all the way to the very end as usual, but the dead bolt just refused to move. A locksmith came and pull the cylinder out a bit and suddenly it worked! He then kindly changed one of the long screws on the faceplate and told me it was caused by a misalignment.

However, I'm having the same problem again after 3 months, luckily this time, the dead bolt is stuck at 'open' position.

Please, anyone has any idea how to fix it? What is causing the problem? And how to prevent it from happening again?

Thanks very much.

Door lock seems like it’s grinding

Hi,I’ve just had a front door fitted and when you turn the key it grates as it’s turned ,I’ve mentioned this to the company and told them that my other door locks don’t do this .They have said it’s a different mechanism to other doors but as far as the mechanism goes it looks the same locking system but as far as I knew the key just turns the barrel lock locking the mechanism in position,in my opinion it is the barrel lock which is not accurate rather than anything to do with the mechanism it’s like the key itself is making the noise as if it’s not accurate the friction noise is felt by the key ,it’s not difficult to turn a slight resistance ,am I correct expecting the key to turn smoothly or is this classed as acceptable please ?what would cause a key seeming gritty when turning it please and do I have grounds to as for the barrel to be changed thanks in advance Kind regards Pete

My uPVC door handle is very stiff when I lift it

My handle on my uPVC door is very stiff / crunch when you have to lift the handle before locking. It is getting worse.
I have bought a new handle but upon changing it, the handle was still stiff so this may be an internal issue - maybe the lock itself?
Would anyone have any advice on things to try before I need to hire someone to have a look?

Thanks

DO I NEED TO CONTACT LOCKSMITH, CARPENTER OR HANDYMAN?

Hi, we have a upvc double glazed door with a multi point lock which opens into the garden. The door doesn't appear to be closing properly which means the handle will not move upwards in order to lock it. It needs to be slammed very hard and whilst pulling, the handle needs to be forced upwards in order for it to be locked. Not sure who to contact so can anybody advise me please? Many thanks.

PS
I have oiled all parts of lock inside and out to no avail.

Door knob/handle combination

Hello,

We are looking to install a new lock and handles on an exterior (back) door.

We’ve been told to get a 76mm 5 lever sash mortice lock with a BS stamp. We’ve found a Yale lock that matches what we need, but we’re now looking for handles, and this is where the problem lies.

On the exterior side or the door, we’d like to have a door knob that doesn’t turn or open the lock. This way, anyone from outside the house cannot enter without a key. On the interior side, we’d like to have a functioning door handle, that doesn’t require a key to open - but we can open to exit.

To sum up - it should be possible to just close the door shut from the outside without locking with a key, so that it is not possible to re-enter without a key; but from the inside there would be a handle to open the door if not locked.

Does anyone know how this works, and what we need to get to answer our problem?

Many thanks!

Letterbox lock for my front door

Hi can I screw a letterbox lock on the inside of my pvc door

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