Ross-Dean Locksmiths

As Winter turns to Spring, or Autumn turns to winter there is always a peak in the number of UPVC door mechanisms failing. If your door is difficult to lock or unlock, get your door adjusted before the mechanism breaks and jams the door locked or unlocked.

Corrective adjustment of a UPVC door before it breaks is much cheaper than a repair.

A customer’s UPVC window wouldnt open. It’s obvious why when you look at the photo. There were 4 or 5 other bits of broken cog but I dropped them in long grass.

This is a Coldseal Tallon mechanism. It was discontinued many years ago. To replace it a completely different mechanism has to be adapted in order to repair the UPVC window.

Land Rover Freelander 2 remote repair. These remotes do not have an easily replaced battery. It’s actually soldered onto the circuit board. It isn’t a difficult job to replace the battery, but be very careful what your’re touching with the heat gun/soldering iron – especially if you’ve only got the one remote.

Customer bought a car that needed different a different key for the ignition to the driver’s door. This is rebuilding the customer’s door lock to match all the other locks on the vehicle

If your car has been stolen/recovered without the keys you may wish to have the locks changed and the missing keys electronically erased from the vehicle. This will prevent any missing keys being used to re-steal the car.

One of the most common ways to steal a car is by taking the keys. Do not leave your keys within sight of the letterbox. I go to so many houses to see the keys hanging in full view, or lying on the hallway table.

We now stock and install the Yale Conexis smart lock.

Open either using your phone, key tag, phone tag or key card. Send ‘mobile keys’ remotely to anybody who needs access. (These can be set for a time period, or revoked as necessary).

Take a look at the video below to see some of the capabilities of this lock.

Most UPVC doors use a type of lock called a Euro cylinder.  I estimate less than 10% of houses in my area have BS kitemarked cylinders. The bulk of the other 90% of locks are to be frank ….. rubbish.

BS locks can also have additional ratings or certifications such as  1 to 3 stars, or the Sold Secure Diamond.

Below is a video of a high end BS cylinder. We supply and fit these Ultion locks if the customer wants one of the strongest locks available.

An important thing to consider is the lock length.  The lock should not be sticking out of the exterior handles more than a few mm, ideally it should be flush.  A lock that is too long on the outside leaves you more vulnerable to burglary.

Another common mistake you’ll see it the handles fitted the wrong way. If your screw holes are on the outside of the door then they’ve been fitted incorrectly. Again this is a security weakness.