An échoppe in the centre or a Terres Neuves block: the same door twice over
Around the town hall, the échoppe is still the dominant model: a terraced single-storey house whose solid timber door opens almost directly onto the pavement, sometimes with a rim lock fitted several decades ago. The timber has moved a great deal over the years, so a door you assume is locked is sometimes simply jammed in its frame. Almost all of these houses have a second way in, onto a courtyard or a rear garden, and it is worth checking that before anything at all is attempted on the street door.
In Terres Neuves, the picture changes completely. The blocks rebuilt over recent years have entrance halls with access control and recent flat entrance doors fitted with multipoint mechanisms: a door pulled shut behind you is no longer a simple case of being locked out as soon as a top or bottom locking point has engaged. You also need to be able to reach your floor, which means contacting a neighbour, the caretaker or the landlord. We will ask you to prove that you do live in the property, and any work touching a common area requires the syndic's approval.
Service entrances, the part of the Bègles housing stock people forget
Before having a door opened, walk round your other ways in: the streets of Yves Farge and the terraced workers' houses frequently have a garage opening onto the street, a connecting door into the house, a garden gate or a storeroom door left unlocked. In the échoppes, the alleyway or rear courtyard sometimes serves several houses. This reflex saves time, and it avoids working on an old front door when an easier way in existed a few metres away.
In the riverside schemes, secondary access points exist too, but they are shared: bike store, cellar, storeroom, connecting door between the car park and the entrance hall. They depend on the same badge you may well have left inside, which limits how far the exercise gets you. That leaves the spare key entrusted to someone close by, or work on the flat entrance door itself. In every case, what we find is explained to you before we act, a detailed quote is drawn up before any work and an invoice is issued.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our door opening page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Bègles.