Sliders, uPVC, multipoint
Aluminium door locksmith Alfaz del Pi, for the doors onto the terrace
The sliding door onto the terrace that no longer catches, the uPVC back door whose handle lifts but whose key will not turn, the aluminium door that has dropped in its frame. Locks, handles, keeps and gearboxes put right without changing the door.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Repair before replacement
- Villas, flats and holiday lets
- Price agreed before work starts
Try this first: vacuum the bottom track and wipe it, then slide the door the whole way a few times. Sand and grit in the track are a common reason a slider stops meeting its latch, and they cost nothing to clear.
What goes wrong
Why aluminium and uPVC doors stop locking
- The door has dropped. Worn rollers or hinges let the leaf sink a few millimetres, and the latch passes under its keep.
- The keep has moved. One loose screw is enough on a door that slides several times a day.
- The multipoint gearbox has seized. The handle lifts, the bolts do not throw, or the key will not turn.
- The latch is worn. The small hook on a slider wears and stops holding.
- Months without use. Mechanisms that sat all summer, near the sea, often stiffen. A guide to what you can check yourself.
In order
How a sliding or uPVC door is put right
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Send a photo or two
The handle, the lock edge of the door and the keep on the frame. Often that is enough to bring the right part.
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Find the real cause
Rollers, keep, latch or gearbox. The cheapest fix that solves it is the one proposed.
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Agree the price
Before anything is taken apart, with the options explained in English or Spanish.
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Lock it, and lock it again
The door is tested several times, from both sides, before we leave.
Here
Sliding doors in l’Alfàs and l’Albir
The orange, olive and almond groves of l’Alfàs were, in the words of the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, “intensely populated with chalets”, and the town hall’s own planning documents describe the residential urbanizations as the home of detached and semi-detached houses. Where a house has a terrace or a garden, a sliding door usually leads to it.
Down in l’Albir the plain runs right to the beach, and doors there live with sea air all year. Up in the urbanizations, the problem is more often a door left unused while the owners are away.
A forced slider, or one you no longer trust, is a security question: what can be fitted after a break-in. The front door with an ordinary cylinder is on the lock change page, and a door you simply cannot open is on the door opening page.
Photos of the door can go through the contact page or straight on WhatsApp.
Asked before
About sliders and uPVC doors
The slider closes but the latch no longer catches. Is the lock broken?
Often it is not. A door that has dropped on worn rollers, or a keep that has moved, stops the latch meeting it. Raising the door or moving the keep is usually the repair.
The handle on our uPVC door lifts but the key will not turn. What has happened?
The multipoint gearbox inside the door, or the bolts no longer lining up with the frame. Do not force the key: a snapped key in a multipoint cylinder makes the job longer.
Can you replace just the lock on an aluminium door, or does it need a new door?
Just the lock, nearly always. Locks, handles, keeps and gearboxes are replaceable parts. If the frame itself is bent, you are told, and that is a job for a carpenter or a window fitter.
Will salt air ruin a new lock on a door facing the sea?
It shortens its life, as it does for any metal by the sea. A lock looked after with the right lubricant once or twice a year lasts far longer than one left alone.
From here
Usually next on a house with a terrace
Guides that lead to this page
Send three photos of the door
The handle, the lock edge and the keep on the frame. From those, the right part comes in the van.