uPVC Door Locking Mechanism Advice

[andyjmurphy]

Apologies in advance as i think this question has been asked many times before and answered in a number of different ways, some of which will presumably be the answer i am looking for but I’m afraid i didn’t quite understand!

I would like to change the way the front door locking mechanism works. Currently the internal and external handle work in exactly the same way - Lift handle to engage locks, turn key to secure lock. The problem with that is we don’t like that when the door closes the handle must be lifted and a key used to lock the door.

I have a multipoint locking composite front door. It has eurocylinder locks (as standard i presume) and a single spindle. When i recently changed the locks i noticed there was a second spindle hole, which from research i believe is called an offset spindle? The handles seem to have switchable cassettes (They are Yale high security ones and ideally i would like to keep them if possible?)

The ideal situation would be that when the door closes, it can still be opened from inside and outside (to prevent accidental lockouts). Once on the inside though, if you lift the handle and engage the multi point locks, the door would lock and from the outside you would not be able to open the door without a key. Obviously overnight we would additionally lock the deadbolt from the inside to provide extra security.

Is this doable? If so, could someone be kind enough to describe what I’m looking for? Do i just need to buy a second shorter spindle and use the lower spindle hole in addition to the top one? Or do i need to buy a new set of handles?

Cheers

Andy

 

[crank39]

First thing to check if you haven't done so, assuming the handles use the top spindle hole then remove the handles and check what the lower one does, just push the spindle into it and slide the handle on to it (I know the handle wont fit onto the door this way), what happens when you operate the handle, does it retract the latch when pushed down? If not does the key retract the latch, if the handle doesn't then the key will most definitely have to in order to get in? Does the handle activate the hooks when lifted?

Remember this is all using the lower spindle hole.

 

[andyjmurphy]

Thanks for coming back to me crank,

So I removed the handle and tried the lower spindle hole as suggested and that operates just the multi point lock when pulled up. The latch is untouched.

So I think so far the top spindle hole operates the latch and the multi point mechanism.
The lower hole operates just the multi point lock.
And the key operates the deadbolt but only when the multi point system is enabled.

Does that make sense? Does that help?

 

[Gazman16]

I would not recommend a lever/pad setup. It promotes laziness in not correctly locking the door. A door locked on the latch only can easily be bumped open and if broken into while locked this way you could have problems with an insurance claim.

 

[andyjmurphy]

Understood Gazman but to be honest at the moment, the setup we have is even less secure because it doesn't get locked at all until overnight when we engage the multi point locks and deadbolt.

Ideally I would like to be able to close the door on the latch which is openable from inside and out (to preven accidental lockouts) and then from the inside to raise the handle and engage the locks which the outside handle can't open. The final act overnight would be to put the deadbolt on.

The second scenario would be to have the door unopenable from the outside when closed on the latch. We would never leave the house without engaging the multi locks anyway and from the inside at least it's more secure than the current setup.

Is this doable? With the current setup?

 

[Gazman16]

The lever/pad set up still allows the external handle to operate the multipoint locking (unless it has been locked with a key), It just doesn't operate the latch.

How about a thumb turn lock for the inside? These may still be frowned upon by an insurance company though.

 

[andyjmurphy]

Thumb turn would certainly be the easiest solution but less secure as the letterbox is right there and accessible.

The other alternative might be to use the snib to disengage the latch entirely forcing us to only use the multipoint system to priorly lock.

Either way, i guess i need to measure the distance between the lock centre and the bottom spindle hole and find a handle to fit (i prefer the look of a handle to the pad!) and give it a go?