Leave it to the professionals
After taking the afternoon off to watch our local football team Radford FC play there final home game of the year – Radford FC play there home games at Selhurst St in Hyson Green Nottingham – it was my turn to be on call for the Saturday night, a call came in from one of our letting agents who had a tenant who was locked out.
Now some letting agents may not even take calls over the weekend or will mostly direct tenants to call a locksmith as a lost key is the tenants fault but these guys were happy to get a spare and drive over on a Saturday night to help but unfortunately the tenant had already allowed a “friend” to try to drill the lock and the drill bit had snapped so when the letting agent arrived with a key it was now useless.
So I attended what should have still been a pretty simple job of removing the offending drill bit and gain entry followed by replacing the cylinder.
But things are never straight forward especially on a cold wet winters night…
As soon as I arrived and examined the door I could see that something was not right, the handle was hanging much lower then it should and is a tell take sign that someone had forced it down in a attempt to gain entry.
This will never work but so many people try it, the Upvc door locking mechanism is designed to not allow this and all it does is cause more damage and more cost to not just replace the parts but the extra time it will now take to get the door open.
So instead of just waiting a short time for a key to arrive we now have a Upvc door that needs a new cylinder, a new multipoint locking mechanism and handles to boot this “friends” attempt to gain entry was going to be expensive.
Unlike when a Upvc multipoint has failed as locksmiths we are still able to manipulate the gearbox to get the door open but excessive force or hitting the handle with a mallet which was now evidently the culprit jams the moving parts so the only way now was to spread the door and force the hooks and bolt out of the keeps in the frame, again I stress the mechanism has been designed to not allow this to happen and without training this can and will cause damage to the frame and you could be looking at having to buy a whole new door if you let a “friend” try this.
Even with all the added obstacles put in my way the door was opened and all parts replaced in around 1 hour so it’s always always better to get a professional to get the job done, yes it might not be what you want to be spending money on but it’s always going to be cheaper in the long run.
LS Locksmiths is local family run locksmiths based in the heart of Nottingham we offer a incredibly fast same day service, thats affordable while only using high quality branded products. Our business counts numerous letting agencies, landlords and returning customers who use and recommend our low cost fast service. Call 0115 8320195
LS Locksmiths
72 Noel Street
Nottingham
NG7 6AU
0115 8320195