I hope someone can advise me on this problem.

We have a double-glazed front door (metal frame covered with PVC or
similar, i.e. not a wooden door) with an integral lock that works like
this: normally, when the door is not locked, you still need the key to
get in from outside, but inside you can just use the handle (with a
lever like an internal door) to open it. If you lock the door, there
are locking points along the side of the door opposite the hinges, with
'hook' shaped catches that engage with the metal holes in the frame.
Then when locked, you need to use the key to open the door from either
side. That's how it should work (hope that all makes sense).

Anyway, I've introduced a problem. At the weekend I was cleaning around
the door frame which had got dusty and dirty over the years, and I
noticed that several screws were not tight so I tightened them up.
Since I did this, I can no longer lock the door as described above - if
I try to turn the key it won't turn all the way round. I loosened some
of the screws in the door itself and I can just about turn the key now
with difficulty, but my wife can't manage to lock it, so she has to
leave it unlocked. Of course nobody can just open the door and walk in,
but I don't like leaving it like this for security reasons.

I've obviously introduced this problem myself. It seems that having
loose screws must be an essential part of the adjustment - I foolishly
thought they had worked loose over the years.

I now wonder if the hinges can be adjusted to get the door right - I
also tightened up some screws on the hinges that seemed loose, but
maybe these were meant to be adjusted to get the door to hang properly.
This seems to me to be the most likely adjustment it needs but I'm not
sure.

Any suggestions would be welcome. I feel a bit of a dipstick now and
wish I'd never touched the bloomin' thing!

The door is too old to be able to call anyone in under a warranty so if
I can sort it myself I'd prefer to do that.

Thanks for any help.

Flummoxed

"Flummoxed" wrote in
oups.com:

I hope someone can advise me on this problem.

We have a double-glazed front door (metal frame covered with PVC or
similar, i.e. not a wooden door) with an integral lock that works like
this: normally, when the door is not locked, you still need the key to
get in from outside, but inside you can just use the handle (with a
lever like an internal door) to open it. If you lock the door, there
are locking points along the side of the door opposite the hinges, with
'hook' shaped catches that engage with the metal holes in the frame.
Then when locked, you need to use the key to open the door from either
side. That's how it should work (hope that all makes sense).

Anyway, I've introduced a problem. At the weekend I was cleaning around
the door frame which had got dusty and dirty over the years, and I
noticed that several screws were not tight so I tightened them up.
Since I did this, I can no longer lock the door as described above - if
I try to turn the key it won't turn all the way round. I loosened some
of the screws in the door itself and I can just about turn the key now
with difficulty, but my wife can't manage to lock it, so she has to
leave it unlocked. Of course nobody can just open the door and walk in,
but I don't like leaving it like this for security reasons.

I've obviously introduced this problem myself. It seems that having
loose screws must be an essential part of the adjustment - I foolishly
thought they had worked loose over the years.

I now wonder if the hinges can be adjusted to get the door right - I
also tightened up some screws on the hinges that seemed loose, but
maybe these were meant to be adjusted to get the door to hang properly.
This seems to me to be the most likely adjustment it needs but I'm not
sure.

Any suggestions would be welcome. I feel a bit of a dipstick now and
wish I'd never touched the bloomin' thing!

The door is too old to be able to call anyone in under a warranty so if
I can sort it myself I'd prefer to do that.

Thanks for any help.

Flummoxed



I had a very similar experience with my patio doors.

On advice, I tightened up all the adjusting screws on the hinges (to get
a "reference point") then played with the adjusting screws for a couple
of hours - only adjusting ONE hinge at a time.

I eventually got there!

Hope this is some use.

Terry

You say it's been some years since the locks received any TLC.
Have you tried oiling the lock mechanism and/or hooks since this
problem occured?

Pete

--
.................................................. .........................
.. never trust a man who, when left alone ...... Pete Lynch .
.. in a room with a tea cosy ...... Marlow, England .
.. doesn't try it on (Billy Connolly) .....................................

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:40:49 GMT, Peter Lynch wrote:

|You say it's been some years since the locks received any TLC.
|Have you tried oiling the lock mechanism and/or hooks since this
|problem occured?

Graphite Powder is reputed to be better than oil for locks.
Never tried it myself, and still waiting for my locks to gum up with mucky
oil.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:44:38 UTC, Dave Fawthrop
wrote:

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:40:49 GMT, Peter Lynch wrote:

|You say it's been some years since the locks received any TLC.
|Have you tried oiling the lock mechanism and/or hooks since this
|problem occured?

Graphite Powder is reputed to be better than oil for locks.
Never tried it myself, and still waiting for my locks to gum up with mucky
oil.

I've only ever used graphite on my locks, and I'm waiting for them to
gum up too! :-)

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

Peter Lynch wrote:
"You say it's been some years since the locks received any TLC.
Have you tried oiling the lock mechanism and/or hooks since this
problem occured?"

I didn't actually say that but I may have given that impression, sorry.
I only recently lubricated the lock itself with graphite powder, and
the moving parts all move freely when the door is open. The problem
seems to be that I've inadvertently messed up the alignment so that
when the door is shut, the catches are probably not engaging properly
with the frame any more. I suspect the hinge adjustment is what I've
messed up, as suggested by Terry.

I'll have a go at adjusting the hinges tonight to see if I can sort it
out. Thanks for everyone's advice so far.

Cheers

Flummoxed

"Flummoxed" wrote in message
oups.com...
Peter Lynch wrote:
"You say it's been some years since the locks received any TLC.
Have you tried oiling the lock mechanism and/or hooks since this
problem occured?"

I didn't actually say that but I may have given that impression, sorry.
I only recently lubricated the lock itself with graphite powder, and
the moving parts all move freely when the door is open. The problem
seems to be that I've inadvertently messed up the alignment so that
when the door is shut, the catches are probably not engaging properly
with the frame any more. I suspect the hinge adjustment is what I've
messed up, as suggested by Terry.

I'll have a go at adjusting the hinges tonight to see if I can sort it
out. Thanks for everyone's advice so far.


Almost certainly a hinge problem, with the door closed is it square with the
frame?

Can't check at the moment, but the door still fits OK into the frame.
The adjustment must have been small, but enough to make the door
catches (the 'hooks') not quite fit into the metal rectangular 'holes'
in the frame any more. I'm going to try slackening the hinge screws a
bit tonight to seee if I can fix the problem. I'm now assuming those
screws in the hinges are meant to be loose as adjusters, and weren't
meant to be tightened up as I thought before.

Cheers

Flummoxed

Progress report: I made a quick "adjustment" to the hinges last night -
basically just slackened them off slightly and I could see them move as
I did it. Not very scientific as I don't yet fully understand how they
work. Had to go out in a hurry last night so not much time to
investigate further - but it did the trick, at least we (including the
missus) can now lock the door properly without too much difficulty.
I'll have a closer look when I have more time.

Anyway, thanks to all who replied for the feedback.

Cheers

Flummoxed

In article , Bob Eager
writes
On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:44:38 UTC, Dave Fawthrop
wrote:

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:40:49 GMT, Peter Lynch wrote:

|You say it's been some years since the locks received any TLC.
|Have you tried oiling the lock mechanism and/or hooks since this
|problem occured?

Graphite Powder is reputed to be better than oil for locks.
Never tried it myself, and still waiting for my locks to gum up with mucky
oil.

I've only ever used graphite on my locks, and I'm waiting for them to
gum up too! :-)

Reputed to set like concrete when 'assisted' by WD40 so watch out they're
never mixed.
--
fred
Plusnet - I hope you like vanilla