This is a much harder job than many ‘tradesmen’ would have you believe and is easily within the scope of the average builder.
are incredibly common nowadays and are fitted to far many more new doors than the old traditional ‘Yale‘ or ‘Chubb‘ type of lock. Multipoint locks are fitted to UPVC doors, timber doors and now the new style ‘composite’ doors which are rapidly taking over from plastic UPVC doors.
The locking mechanism is generally made up of the following 4 elements, which together provide a secure solution for your home.
locking mechanism
This is main locking mechanism which runs up the edge of your door. They come with a variety of locking points such as deadbolts, hooks, rollers and spring loaded latches and these often come in a variety of combinations, such as rollers on their own, hooks and rollers etc.
The main locking mechanism runs for most of the height of the door and is usually gold, silver, white or brown in colour. It is fitted to the door by a series of Philips (cross or X headed) screws.
Keeps
Keeps, or receivers as they are sometimes called, are fitted to the frame directly in line with the locking points (hooks, rollers etc) on the main lock mechanism. They are what the hooks or rollers lock into when the door is closed and the handle lifted.
Normally there is individual keeps for each roller/hook/deadbolt, but sometimes it is a single ‘one piece’ keep running up the frame. It is no matter, they all work the same.
Handles
There are many different colours and styles of handles, but the most important aspect is whether they are ‘in-line’ or ‘offset’. What we mean by this is to look if your inside handle is in line with the outside or whether it is higher. Some take in-line some offset and if changing them you really need to be swapping like for like.
Euro cylinder or ‘barrel’
This is the small lock in the handles which has a keyhole on the outside and either a keyhole or a knob on the inside…..its purpose is to securely ‘lock off’ the mechanism when you want the door fully locked. You should change this unit straight away if it starts to get loose or stiff or if you have bought or rented a new home as you never know who has keys to the existing barrel.
How to change your multipoint UPVC locks
This is designed as a general guide and will apply to almost all multipoint UPVC locks commonly encountered. Hopefully it doesn’t sound too complicated, but in reality it is quite easy and if you take your time, and measure carefully you will achieve a rewarding result and save lots of money over getting a locksmiths to do it.
(i) Firstly with the door open familiarise yourself with both the layout and operation of the lock and its keeps. The locking mechanism itself is normally branded on the long faceplate…look our for something like GU, FERCO, WINKHAUS, MACO, YALE, MILA, LOCKMASTER, COLDSEAL, AVOCET, ERA, SARACEN etc as this will be very important to identify your mechanism. supplied by safe and secure locksmiths .
Occasionally it may be that your unit s now obsolete which can entail replacement with a different similar unit or normally replacement of the gearbox itself. The gearbox is the large box fitted to the main locking mechanism which houses both the barrel and the handle spindle (the square hole/holes). It is normally the gearbox which fails as it is the unit that has to do all the work moving the hooks or rollers. Luckily on many units you can simply change the gearbox and fit a new one to your old mechanism. To do this remove the torx screws (T20 size) and carefully remove the gearbox from the strip. Note how it attaches to the mechanism and fit the new one in exactly the same way. Trial fit the handle and check that the mechanism throws the hooks/rollers etc, safe and secure locksmith can help
