I recently moved into a house with a upvc front door that has a multi-point lock that may be faulty.
I understand that when the door is shut and held closed by the latch only it should not be possible to open the door from the outside unless the key is turned at the same time as the external handle is held down.
I have found that if the door is pushed and held from the outside and its handle is repeatedly and rapidly pushed or knocked down the door will (fly) open. The only way the stop this happening is to physically lock the door with its key.
The latch mechanism doesn't appear to be worn as there is very little up, down or sideways movement of the latch bolt. However, when viewed from above I can see that latch bolt is slightly skewed left to right and not at a right-angle with the door lock stile and striker plate. The spring on the latch bolt is not particularly strong but any stronger and it would be difficult to turn the key to draw the (latch) bolt back and open the door. The long metal strip that holds the locking assembly together and into the door doesn't appear to be bent or distorted.
It looks as though it is possible to bounce the latch bolt back into its withdrawn position but I'm not sure. I've tried adjusting the door so it's closer to the striker plate and moved the striker plate closer to the door but it makes little difference.
Can anyone advise what the most likely cause is and what can be done to resolve the problem?
Many thanks
I understand that when the door is shut and held closed by the latch only it should not be possible to open the door from the outside unless the key is turned at the same time as the external handle is held down.
I have found that if the door is pushed and held from the outside and its handle is repeatedly and rapidly pushed or knocked down the door will (fly) open. The only way the stop this happening is to physically lock the door with its key.
The latch mechanism doesn't appear to be worn as there is very little up, down or sideways movement of the latch bolt. However, when viewed from above I can see that latch bolt is slightly skewed left to right and not at a right-angle with the door lock stile and striker plate. The spring on the latch bolt is not particularly strong but any stronger and it would be difficult to turn the key to draw the (latch) bolt back and open the door. The long metal strip that holds the locking assembly together and into the door doesn't appear to be bent or distorted.
It looks as though it is possible to bounce the latch bolt back into its withdrawn position but I'm not sure. I've tried adjusting the door so it's closer to the striker plate and moved the striker plate closer to the door but it makes little difference.
Can anyone advise what the most likely cause is and what can be done to resolve the problem?
Many thanks
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