Patio & French Door Locks

uPVC patio sliders and French doors use multipoint locking systems that engage several hooks, rollers, and deadlocks along the door edge simultaneously. The gearbox — the central mechanism driven by the handle — takes the most stress. Over time, particularly on south-facing doors that expand in warm weather, the gearbox can strip internally, leaving the handle spinning freely or refusing to lift. Shoot bolts at the top and bottom of a French door often seize if they are not lubricated annually. A French door lever lock that suddenly drops or becomes difficult to lift is almost always a gearbox issue rather than a cylinder problem, and replacing only the cylinder without addressing the gearbox will not resolve it.

Euro cylinders on uPVC French doors are also vulnerable to wear and, on older installations, to snap attacks — where an intruder applies force to shear the cylinder at the euro cam, gaining access in seconds. If your French door still has a standard cylinder without anti-snap features, upgrading it is straightforward and significantly improves resistance. We carry TS007-rated anti-snap cylinders as standard and can swap one in during the same visit as a gearbox repair.

Our technicians handle the complete scope of uPVC patio and French door lock work. Services we carry out include: multipoint lock gearbox replacement on uPVC French doors; shoot bolt repair and replacement (top and bottom); uPVC patio door roller replacement; euro cylinder replacement with anti-snap upgrade; French door mortise lock fitting and adjustment; mortise lock for French doors — including 5 lever rebated mortice lock installations for pairs of doors that require a rebated faceplate; handle spindle and backplate replacement; door alignment and adjustment where the frame has dropped or warped; locking strip and keep replacement on patio door frames; espagnolette rod replacement; hinge adjustment on heavy French doors to relieve pressure on the gearbox; master key exclusion on shared uPVC doors; door-edge reinforcement strips; anti-lift blocks for patio sliders; security night-latch addition to inward-opening French doors; damaged lock case removal following a break-in attempt; temporary boarding and security pending a full replacement; non-destructive entry where the door is locked and keys are unavailable; full multipoint lock strip replacement; handle replacement where the lever is cracked or the rose has come away; keyed-alike cylinder sets for paired French doors; dummy handle fitting on the passive leaf of a French door pair; and post-break-in security audit of all ground-floor door and window locks. That covers both emergency call-outs and planned upgrades — all carried out at your property, any day of the week, evenings, weekends and bank holidays included.

For landlords, letting agents and housing associations managing properties in Fulham, we also provide lock change London work between tenancies — replacing cylinders on French and patio doors to ensure former tenants no longer hold working keys. We understand the pressures of turnaround times and can often attend the same day a managing agent calls.

French doors — the inward-opening double-door style common in Fulham's older garden-flat conversions — present a specific challenge. Where the two leaves meet, a gap runs the full height of the door, and a standard mortise lock fitted to the active leaf can be insufficient if the passive leaf is not properly secured. A French door mortise lock set that includes top and bottom shoot bolts on the passive leaf, plus a 5 lever rebated mortice lock on the active leaf, gives coordinated security across both panels. Insurers increasingly ask for this standard of hardware on rear garden access doors, so it is worth confirming your policy requirements before we attend.

Questions about how to lock French doors with lever handles come up regularly. On doors with lever-operated multipoint locks, lifting the handle engages the full set of hooks and bolts, and turning the key deadlocks them. If your door does not fully deadlock — the handle lifts but the key turns loosely or not at all — the gearbox or the cam follower inside the lock case is likely worn. This is not a job to leave: a door that appears locked but is not fully deadlocked is easy to push open from outside. Call us on 020 7871 7823 and we can usually be with you in about 30 minutes.

Lockouts and lock failures do not follow office hours. A stripped gearbox on a patio door discovered on a Sunday evening, or a French door that will not close properly after a late-night attempt at forced entry, needs attention before you go to sleep — not on the next available weekday slot. As a 24 hour locksmith London service, we operate continuously, and our mobile technicians cover Fulham and the surrounding SW6 district at any hour. We also serve neighbouring postcodes including SW10, SW5, and W6 for patio and French door work.

When you call 020 7871 7823, we take details about your door type, the lock symptom, and your location, and confirm an exact price before dispatching anyone. The final quote reflects the type of lock or mechanism involved, the time of call-out, travel distance, and any parts required — there are no hidden additions once work begins. We aim to carry out damage-free entry and repairs wherever the condition of the lock allows, and our technicians are trained to avoid unnecessary force on uPVC frames that can be expensive to replace.

Fulham's mix of Victorian garden flats, Edwardian terraces, and newer riverside developments means no two properties have identical door configurations. A ground-floor garden flat on Munster Road, for example, may have an older aluminium-framed sliding patio door with a simple hook bolt, while a newer build near Fulham Broadway might have a fully glazed French door set with a modern multipoint mechanism. The right repair or replacement depends on the specific hardware already installed, and our technicians assess this on arrival rather than assuming a one-size solution.

After any repair, we walk you through what was replaced and why, and flag any other vulnerabilities we notice — such as a worn cylinder on a neighbouring door or a patio door that sits slightly off its track and could be lifted from outside. We do not upsell parts you do not need; if the existing lock is repairable, we say so. If your property qualifies as a commercial premises — a garden studio used as an office, a ground-floor retail space with a French door rear exit — our team can handle that work too, as the same uPVC multipoint hardware is common in light commercial settings. For any planned security upgrade or an emergency call-out, reach us on 020 7871 7823 — we answer 24/7.