Getting more life from an old door catch

[Cloud]

Over the years door handle mechanisms wear. Eventually it becomes more an more difficult to open the door. The following method can brings new life back to the mechanism and many more years use.

1. Unscrew door handle

Remove door handle

one.jpg (54.51 KiB) Viewed 3601 times

2. Remove square rod and put in pocket
(now is not the time to close the door, especially if rod and screw driver are on the wrong side of the door)

3. Unscrew mechanism and pull out mechanism from door. If it's been painted over you may need to score round with a knife and lever it out carefully with a screwdriver.

Unscrew mechanism and remove

three.jpg (50.43 KiB) Viewed 3601 times

4. Place the mechanism on a solid surface (my choice of a slatted bench is probably not the best). Identify the screw(s) that hold it together. Mine here is like many I've seen and has a single central screw.

Mechanism often secured by a single screw

four.jpg (51.63 KiB) Viewed 3601 times

5. Open mechanism. Take care not to release the springs... unless you want a 3D jigsaw and have several hours to spare.

Open

five.jpg (58.95 KiB) Viewed 3601 times

6. Remove the actuator mechanism. This is a fiddle but it will come out with care. Again take care not to release the springs.

Remove actuator

six.jpg (83.63 KiB) Viewed 3601 times

7. With luck you find that you have an actuator like mine that has one warn arm and one that's not. Make a note of which arm (upper or lower) is warn. Now rotate the actuator in your hand so the top and bottom lugs swap places Do this either flipping top and bottom, or by rotating by 180 degrees and then flipping left and right. Both method produce the same effect.

Asymmetrically warn actuator

seven.jpg (65.21 KiB) Viewed 3601 times

8. Replace the actuator in the reverse of how you removed it. Now would be a good time to apply a little oil.

9. Reassemble the mechanism. Take care not to over-tighten screws. Reverse your steps to place it back in the door. Don't forget the square rod. Sometimes this rod can also be warn so reversing this also might help.

You should now find the door opens a little easier than before. Generally not as good as new, but with many more years life left in it.

I've done this to several doors now and they mostly give me a good improvement. However, I probably would not bother unless the door getting noticeably awkward.

[Shirley]

Thanks for that - the door on my mum's house is not working too well at the moment so might just give that a shot.

[MKG]

Excellent guide, Cloud. There should be more of this kind of stuff.

Now, there are several parts of my body which appear not to be as efficient as they once were ... ?

Mike

[Cloud]

Thanks for that - the door on my mum's house is not working too well at the moment so might just give that a shot.

Thanks Shirley. Do let me know if it works for you if you get to try it.

Excellent guide, Cloud. There should be more of this kind of stuff.

Now, there are several parts of my body which appear not to be as efficient as they once were ... ?

Mike

Can help there I'm afraid, Mike. I'm already running on replacement parts and several other non-essential bits are missing entirely, but you'd have to ask my doctors about that, I wasn't watching what they did at the time.

I've just found my cistern value is leaking (um, I mean the one in the upstairs toilet). If it needs more than a wiggle and tap than I'll try to take photos on how to replace that too.

[MuddyWitch]

My hero!

Just used your excellent instructions & the back door now locks again.

You are a star

MW

[Milims]

Excellent guide, Cloud. There should be more of this kind of stuff.

Now, there are several parts of my body which appear not to be as efficient as they once were ... ?

Mike

You could try lubricating with beer then giving your actuator a good twiddle!

[MKG]

Well, well - I thought you were joking. It worked!

Mike

[Cloud]

My hero!

Just used your excellent instructions & the back door now locks again.

You are a star

MW

Thanks for letting me know , MuddyWitch. It's nice to get hear how people got on. You made my day - I'm twinkling

[StripyPixieSocks]

That's a great idea, would be such a shame to throw away that beautiful handle just because the mechanism wasn't working (as some people would do). Great tutorial, thankyou so much for sharing it

[MuddyWitch]

Glad to be of service. I'm just glad the door locks & we can both leave the house together.

Now, if you can tell me how to make a threadbare carpet look like new....

MM