Autumn Lock Maintenance Check | Ten Minutes Now

Last October I had three call-outs in one week to the same road in Landport. Different houses, same story: the cold arrived, the multipoint gearbox gave up, and nobody could get in. Every one of those doors had been stiff through summer. Every one of those homeowners had ignored it.

Don't be them.

This takes ten minutes. Walk through it once before November hits and you'll save yourself a locked-out morning, a bill, and the specific misery of standing on your own doorstep in the rain.

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1. Lubricate the Lock Cylinder First, Not the Latch

Most people squirt WD-40 into the keyhole. WD-40 is a water displacer, not a lubricant. It cleans and dries, which sounds useful until your cylinder seizes solid in February.

Get a proper PTFE dry lubricant spray, or a graphite powder for cylinders. Squirt it into the keyhole, insert your key a few times, done. For the latch bolt and the multipoint hooks, use a silicone grease on a cloth, not in a spray can. Run it along the bolt face and the hook edges. Don't soak it. A thin coat is all you need.

Banned: WD-40 in a cylinder. Three-in-One oil anywhere near a lock. Both gum up over winter.

2. The Stiff Key Is a Warning, Not an Inconvenience

If your key has started dragging, catching, or needing a lift-and-wiggle to turn, that's your cylinder telling you it's on the way out. In summer you live with it. In cold weather, metal contracts slightly and that marginal cylinder becomes an immovable one.

Check the cylinder brand while you're there. If it's a standard Yale or an unbranded chrome job with no anti-snap rating, it was probably due for replacement anyway. A TS007 3-star cylinder, something like an Avocet ABS or Ultion, runs between £40 and £80 fitted for most uPVC doors on BN7 and BN8 properties. Cheap insurance against a lockout call.

3. Check the Weatherseal, Because a Swollen Frame Kills Gearboxes

Run your finger around the door frame. The rubber or foam weatherseal should be soft and springy. If it's hard, cracked, or flattened, it's not sealing the door properly, and more importantly, the door is probably working harder than it should to pull shut. That extra load goes straight through the handle to the multipoint mechanism.

Rotten weatherseal is a £15 to £30 fix from any builders' merchant. A new Maco, GU, or Fuhr gearbox is £80 to £150 parts alone. The maths is obvious.

4. Tighten Every Hinge on Every External Door

Grab a screwdriver and check every screw. On a busy front door in a period terrace in Southover or Wallands, it's not unusual to find two or three screws spinning loose. A sagging door drags at the frame, puts the latch out of alignment with the keep, and grinds the gearbox every time you lock up.

If a screw spins with nothing biting, that hole is stripped. Pack it with a wooden matchstick and a dab of PVA, let it set, re-drive the screw. Five minutes. Alternatively, replace with a longer screw, at least 75 mm into the frame.

Adjustable hinges on modern uPVC and composite doors can be tweaked with a 4 mm hex key. If the door isn't sitting flush with the frame, that's the first thing to try before calling anyone.

5. Test the Multipoint Lock Under Load

Close the door, lift the handle fully to engage all the hooks, and try to operate the key with the door under light pressure from outside. Have someone push gently on the door while you turn the key from inside. Any grinding, clunking, or resistance under load means the gearbox rollers are worn or the door's out of alignment.

A clunk that wasn't there six months ago is not a sound to ignore through winter. A Maco or GU gearbox replaced in autumn costs a standard call-out. The same job on a frozen January morning, with the door jammed shut and a tenant who can't get in, costs considerably more and comes with extra stress.

6. Back Doors and Gate Padlocks Get Forgotten

Every time. The back door in a Malling terrace, the gate at a Ringmer rental, the shed padlock at a Nevill semi. Padlocks left exposed take rain, freeze, and seize. A squirt of silicone spray in the shackle and keyway, then a push of the shackle a few times to work it in. Two minutes.

If the padlock's a basic brass job with no Sold Secure rating, this is also a good moment to ask yourself whether it's doing any real work or just making you feel better.

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If something's already stiff or the handle's been feeling heavy, don't leave it over winter. Fort Secure covers Lewes and across the BN postcodes, usually arriving within 30 minutes, and we'll tell you the honest price before we start. No obligation to go ahead if you'd rather think about it.