DIY door

Shortly after getting back from the Isle of Wight, the thirty year old Yale lock which provides some of the protection of our back door, started playing up, with the block of the deadlock refusing to come out of its hole. One result of which is that we were unable to lock the back door from the inside in such a way that someone outside could unlock it, this last being an occasional requirement.

We have had bother with this lock before and at that time I got the impression that this particular sort of lock was no longer available. A passing fad of the 1980's.

Step 1: take the offending lock to pieces, to find that one of the two springs which worked the latch had broken, with the bits blocking the block. Remove them and all seems to be well, although the door handles are a bit floppy, as can be seen in the snap left. Which they have been for a while, so perhaps the spring has been broken for a while, but only moving to block the block in the last few days.

But we thinking about what might be involved if the block got jammed in the out position while we were out, we decided that either a new spring or a new lock might be a good idea.

Step 1: check to find that my own holdings of springs are close to zero. Which I had not thought to be the case. Perhaps they had left during some spring cleaning operation.

Step 2: check to find that neither Halfords nor Robert Dyas sold springs, neither loose nor in mixed packets. Probably something which went out with the old fashioned hardware stores, of which we used to have two or three in the area and which often seemed to be run by people from India or Pakistan. Perhaps they have retired and their children have found something better to do. So I can't repair something perhaps costing £20 with a spring whose factory gate price would probably be less than 20p.

Step 3: back to Epsom Locksmiths of reference 2. They can sell me the necessary; not Yale like the original, but near enough. New lock and door handles, almost identical to those that are there now. Driving there was probably a mistake, as I ended up paying to park at Bourne Hall and walking from there.

Step 4: back at  home, attempt to take the front plate off the new lock, the plate which covers the three fixing holes. Use Pozidriv No.2 sez the instructions. So I try both No.2, No.1 (in their Stanley incarnations) and various other cross head screwdrivers and all I succeed in doing is messing up the grub screws holding the plate on. Having heard of similar troubles with car wheel nuts, I suspected that they were put there by an over-energetic machine.

Step 5: check screwdrivers at Wickes and Halfords, luckily on the same Kiln Lane site, next to the Sainsbury's trolley park. They have some offerings which look better than my own at around £5 a go, but trial does not move the offending screws. Purchase declined.

Step 6: push on to the locksmiths and he obliges with vice, hammer and screwdriver. Plus one replacement grub screw, the original by now being in a bit of a state. Cycle back this time, reasonably satisfied with progress. And I don't get wet despite the threatening sky.

Step 7: back at home, close study of the work involved. The new lock is not quite a replica of the old and some new cutting will be required, new cutting which once started will need to be completed. No going back. Perhaps some patching of old holes so that I can make new holes.

Step 8: defer the rest of the job to the land of mañana.

PS: not for the first time, reminded of the people who run on about the awful instructions on government forms. Such people have clearly never tried flat pack, let alone door furniture.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/02/cold-and-wet.html. The previous bother.

Reference 2: PES (Southern) Ltd – Epsom Locksmiths - 4 Castle Parade, Ewell By Pass, KT17 2PR, Epsom.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives. The story of screw heads.

Reference 4: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/01/who-dares-wins.html. The last time the back door came off.