Timber, rain and the two millimetres that jam everything
An échoppe door opens at street level straight onto the pavement, with no canopy or setback: it takes the rain head-on and dries out at the first sun. The door leaf swells through the damp months, shrinks when the city dries out, and the bolt ends up rubbing in the strike plate. The symptom is always the same: you have to lift or push the door to get it to lock. It is not the lock giving way, it is the alignment, and adjusting the strike plate or the hinges often brings the whole thing back into line.
Replacing the mechanism without correcting that fault settles nothing: the new lock will be under the same strain and will wear out just as fast. The second very Bordeaux case is the back door, the one opening onto the small yard, the former chai or the garden, used only a few times a year. Left unused and exposed to the damp of the courtyard, it seizes up and its key starts to catch. A dry lubricant and regular use are usually enough to keep it working.
Under the cover in recent developments
At the Bassins à flot, in Ginko, at Les Aubiers or in the new buildings of Belcier, landing doors are recent and almost all fitted with a shielded multipoint lock. The usual symptom there is not a key turning without engaging, but a top or bottom locking point that no longer catches, or a handle that has to be lifted twice. Behind the cover, the rod linkage is under tension and its adjustment is a matter of millimetres: improvised dismantling regularly ends in a distorted espagnolette.
Another useful habit in these developments, as in the tower blocks of the Grand Parc: telling apart what belongs to you and what belongs to the co-owned building. Your landing door, the lock on your private cellar or a service cupboard inside the flat are yours. The lobby door, its door closer, its electric strike plate and the access control belong to the co-owned building, which orders the work through its managing agent. Saying so when you call avoids a call-out to a door we would not be authorised to open.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our locksmith repairs page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Bordeaux.