Holiday Home Security and Lock Maintenance

Lock maintenance

The summer season is well and truly over as the sky turns grey and the cold, wet weather moves in. If you have a holiday home that you let out during the summer months, now is the perfect time to review the condition of your locks and security.

Holiday home security
In my job I see holiday homes catering for all budgets, from basic amenities, to home from home comfort with installed luxuries like internet connection and satellite TV. But no matter what the level you are offering, it is always embarrassing when your customer’s holiday is set back by problems with the locks, and they find themselves locked out (or in some cases, locked in) because the locks have not been maintained properly.

Most property service companies are reactionary, so even though the problem will be resolved, it can still lead to you having to refund a customer and can even mean you have to cancel bookings, which has the knock on effect of possibly losing you recommendation business in the future. While maintenance is not an absolute guarantee that nothing will go wrong, you can at least rest in the knowledge you have done all you can to give your customers a hassle free holiday, and you not wasting time chasing property managers to get the job done.

Holiday homes with multi-point locking systems on their doors are probably the most likely to create problems, particularly if they are near the sea. Moisture creates rust, especially when these mechanisms are set into wooden doors and customers slam doors or leave them open to blow in the wind. These doors should have a service at least once a year, but preferably at the start and end of high season.

Yale locks seem to cause no end of problems with people managing to deadlock the door while it is open and then slam the door, effectively locking them in unless someone unlocks the door from the outside. Standard Yale type locks should be replaced with BSI3621 models to avoid this and other problems.

Mortice locks can throw up a problem where a part inside slips and it becomes impossible to insert the key. These locks should be checked by removing from the door and checking the tightness of the screws as wooden door expansion and contraction can loosen these screws.

These are just some of the problems to be avoided. There are many more. But the good news is that you can guard against all this for free. The cost of routine maintenance carried out by a professional locksmith is a business expense and therefore can be claimed as part of your expenses when submitting tax returns, effectively making the work free.

AC Locksmiths is ready to take on regular contract work to maintain the locks of your holiday home. I can liaise with your letting company to coincide maintenance with changeover periods and help prevent the problem that can mean your customers demand their money back. Should you require any more information on the above subjects, please contact via any of the methods listed on the contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

admin October 22, 2015

Holiday home security / Home maintenance / Lock maintenance / Rented property /

Double Glazed Wooden Doors

I have noticed a steep rise in the number of wooden doors with multi-point locking mechanisms this year, and I am noticing them because they are having problems. These problems tend to stem directly from the wood holding water and causing rust to the metal moving parts. The problem is compounded if the mechanism has shoot bolts because water collects in the bottom shoot bolt hole and rusts the bolt itself  – causing problems. Wooden doors are also less easy to adjust than their UPVC counterparts and therefore, if anything comes out of alignment the problems start, remember these doors are wood so they will swell in the winter and dry out in hot weather.

So what can we do about these problems? 
Firstly, if you are thinking about installing wooden double glazed doors, consider the potential problems for the future. Yes it is true that you get more window space than a UPVC door but things are a lot harder to correct with wood and often more expensive. In my travels, I have seen only one set of double glazed wooden French doors with hinges that were adjustable to make the doors fit better, however these adjusters were extremely fiddly and without going into technical detail, I wouldn’t expect them to make too many adjustments. Therefore the customer has a finite life on this door. If you really must have wood over UPVC then see if your installer can provide a door that has a mortice lock rather than a multi-point mechanism. Multi-points are still being fitted with standard locking cylinders which means the intruder can gain entry in less than a minute. So unless you are sure your installer is going to fit a BSI 3621 or better cylinder, then a mortice lock is safer anyway. Always seek independent advice before committing your money to these doors.

If you already have these doors in place, then make sure they are oiled regularly. With the door open, lift the handles and inspect all the hooks, rollers, etc for any signs of wear. Even if there are no obvious signs of wear, the handles should lift nearly as easily with the door closed as they do with the door open. If they do not, then there is probably an alignment problem and if this is the case, get your local locksmith to take a look. A small cost now will save a greater cost in the future. Just in case you glossed over the first instruction; oil regularly! Rust is more likely to appear at the bottom of the door, so concentrate your oil here. If the mechanism has shoot bolts top and bottom, make sure the bolt holes are free of water and debris. I see these doors a lot on holiday let homes so if you own a holiday cottage take the time to do the maintenance yourself as many management companies work reactively when the damage is already done.

Should you require any more information about this topic or any of the other lock related matters, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

admin July 31, 2014

Double Glazed Wooden Doors / Home maintenance / Home security /

Tips of the locksmith trade.

Recently I was called out to a job that was easy for me to sort out as I have the experience and know-how of what to do. Had I been faced with the same problem before I became a locksmith, I would have been stuck, so here is some (hopefully) useful information that might save you having to call me (or, worse still, one of my more expensive competitors) – therefore saving you money. Some readers might find these tips obvious, but believe me, these are all things I have been called out for.

So starting with my most recent call; I was faced with a wooden door where the handle had gone limp on the outside of a mortice (“Chubb”) type lock. Although it was unlocked, the handle just spun around without pulling back the latch part of the lock and the customer could not get in. To an untrained eye, this looks pretty dire, but I quickly removed the handle plate and saw that the spindle that connects the handles through the door and operates the latch was only just showing through the lock. To the customer, it looked as if the spindle had snapped. This was not the case. Quite simply, when the lock had been fitted, too short a spindle had been used and over time it had worked its way through the lock until it eventually came out of the handle on the outside. I carry spindles of various lengths and was able to rectify the situation. I have also known this to happen with UPVC doors. Your own doors might very well have this same problem and you will know nothing about it until the spindle finally slips out of either handle. So it is a good idea to check your own doors and if your spindle is to short, it should be replaced with one of the correct size, or in an emergency, some thin cardboard could be rolled up and used to pack out the insides of the handles, stopping the spindle from moving, although you should remember this might be hard to get back out when you do get the longer spindle.

The next thing that happens a lot is with UPVC doors. I once had a case where, the customer could not make the mechanism engage. When I arrived, I found the floor mat had moved and was jammed underneath the door, meaning the door was not closed properly and the hooks and rollers could not engage properly. I moved the mat and the problem was solved in less than five seconds. Unfortunately this was done under sub-contract and therefore cost the customer a lot of money. But it does highlight how easily these doors move and can become problematic.

There are various things you can do to give UPVC doors a new lease of life;

  • If the handles are stiff then adjustments need to be made, but sometimes the stiffness builds up over time so you might not notice it. Therefore a good test is to open the door and lift the handles while it is open. Now do the same thing again with the door closed. If it is much stiffer with the door closed, then adjustments need to be made.
  • Firstly look for where signs of wear on any of the exposed moving parts and their respective keeps in the door frame as this will give you an idea of where to start, but before you do anything, give every nook and cranny a good dose of oil and then mark off a point on your calendar to do the same thing every six months or so.
  • Most doors have rollers on the leading edge of the door mechanism. You will see a hexagonal hole for an Allen key that turns this roller. There will also be a small line from one edge of the hexagon to the outer edge of the roller. If this line is down, the roller is in its low position. If the line is up, it is in its upper position. Using the Allen key, you can rotate these rollers to see if it makes any difference to how easy the handles are to lift. You may find these a little stiff which is good because they should not move easily.
  • If you want to be really brave, then the next step is to adjust the hinges. Most newer doors have hinges that wrap over one side of the door, and you can usually find a small cap on these that when removed, allows you to access another Allen key hole. If you rotate the Allen key through 180 degrees, and watch the edge of the door by the hinge you are working on (there will be three or four), you should see the door move away from or towards the door frame (note: you will need the door to be slightly open for this). Once you have done one half turn, close the door and try the handles again. If they are harder to engage, rotate the Allen key the other way and repeat to see if the handles are easier now. If there is no difference, move the Allen key back to the original position and try a different hinge. You will soon get the idea of which hinge need to go which way. However, if you are going to try this yourself, be prepared for it to take a while as it can take some time to get right and don’t be afraid to call the professionals.
  • Some doors also have adjustable keeps in the frame. As these are very varied, I will just say have a good look and if you feel out of your depth, call your local locksmith.
  • Finally, if you have an older UPVC door without adjustable hinges, there is a last-ditch thing to try. Unscrew all of the keeps from the frame and close the door. Lift the handles to make sure it now engages smoothly. Next put the keeps back one at a time and each time you do, close the door and lift the handles. If the handles work ok then that keep is good, If the handles are stiff again, then that keep needs to be either raised or lowered, usually by only a few millimetres. Secure the keep with its top and bottom screws and try the handle again. If they are harder to engage then you need to reposition the keep in the opposite direction, i.e. if you moved it up, you need to move it down and vice versa. Now try again.
  • With mortice (Chubb) locks and nightlatches (Yale), the main tricks are maintenance – so oil them on a regular basis with a healthy dose of spray oil. But wooden doors expand and contract with the weather, so be aware that if the key is becoming difficult to turn, or you have to push against the door to operate the lock, then simply moving the keep will ease this problem, but again, only move it a few millimetres or else the door may rattle in the wind.

Should you have any questions about carrying out work for yourself on your doors, I am happy to help so please feel free to call my mobile number as it appears on my contacts page. If I am not in the middle of a job myself, I will be happy to talk you through any process. 

Thanks for reading.

admin April 23, 2014

Home maintenance / Locksmith tips / saving money /