UPVC door locking

[Chris S]

It's an issue I have from time to time. Mine seems to be the door slightly dropping which means the lock and keep aren't lining up correctly. I have to tighten the top hinge up a little which pulls the door up and hey presto problem solved.

I get the same problem when I try it with the door open though.

 

[Chris S]

Good squirt of WD40/GT85 around all moving elements of the locking bits and flick the handle up and down a few times with the door open whilst manipulating the handle....................should be back to how it was

If anybody is still interested then I gave this a go. I gradually had to lift the handle fewer and fewer times to lock the door until now when I only have to do it once. It's taken six months for the oil to reach the sticking point!

 

[MontyVeda]

they're a pain in the arse! the handles on two of my widows wouldn't budge the other day. Ended up sliding a razorblade in the gap between the twisty bit and screwed to the frame bit to release the latch because pushing the button was doing nothing. Note to self, don't twist them all the way back in future

 

[irw]

UPVC can distort over time and the locking attachments can come out of line. Apparently those with bolts at the top and bottom are less likely to warp than those more centrally located. I agree that cleaning and lubricant is the first step. If that doesn’t work it’s fiddling with the adjustment which you can get someone in to help with. If that doesn’t do it you may need a new mechanism or even a new door.

Ive just read it happens when open so hopefully a good clean will sort it.

I’m pretty sure the spec sheet for my doors said to always do the handle-lifty-thing when you close the door, whether you lock it or not, to help mitigate against distortion.

 

[Time Waster]

WD40 is really just a penetrant and GT85 is slighlty better but not much. I would use a silicone spray for this as it is a lubricant. I had the issue when my partner complained about struggling to lock the front door. I didn't have any issues with it but I listened to her concerns and gave it a good dose of silicone spray lubrication into everything that moves including the hinges (they weren't the issue but can't hurt right?). It seemed to work smoother from straight away but over time issue resolved (or rather my partner stopped moaning about it).

When I did that for the front door I did the back one too. Then the hinges of all the other internal doors. Then when taking round to the garage I gave the gate hinges a bit of silicone spray too. Well I was walking past and had the spray to hand, why not?

These modern doors have multi lock points in that the lifting of the handle makes these hooks from the door locate in the frame at several locations. If these are out of alignment I guess the lifting of the handle has to be done with more force as it kind of uses that to move the door back into alignment with those hooks if that makes sense. Anyway The engineering flowchart applies only silicone spray instead of WD40 in this case. It helps adding lubrication every so often anyway. Just if you are leaving your doors open to let the silicone seep in put something under each lubrication point. It is easy to use too much and harder to clean carpets!!