Fixing a multipoint door lock

About 18 months ago, my front door needed replacing. Due to an oversight somewhere along the line, the wrong type of door locking mechanism was supplied.

The old door had a 'pad' type handle on the outside, which worked in the same way as an old style rim latch, ie you pull the door closed from outside and it needs to be opened with the key, but from inside you can always open the door (unless the multi-point locks are secured). Anyway, despite the fitter ordering the correct type of lock, when the new door arrived it had been supplied with a standard lock with handles on both sides. As you can imagine, this is less than ideal for a door that opens onto the street. Anyone can just walk in.

Unfortunately this didn't get noticed until the old door had been removed and the new one fitted. The fitters assured me they would retro-fit the correct type of lock mechanism, and that because the door system was modular, this could be done without having to replace the entire door.  This was in May last year (2023).

Anyway, some 3 months later, the fitters turned up with a new set of handles, with a pad handle for the outside. Changing these over resulted in a cosmetic change to the outside of the door - it looked like it had the correct mechanism, but worked exactly the same way as before, ie leaving it unlocked allowed unfettered access from outside.

The fitter promised to be back, mumbling something about 'split spindles' being needed. A few months later, he turned up with a pair of replacement spindles. What's supposed to happen is the outer spindle will only operate the multi-point locks unless the key is in and turned, but the inside spindle operates the door mechanism as normal. So by replacing the solid spindle with two half-shaft spindles, in theory it ought to work.

Except it didn't. The outer half-shaft was sticking too far into the mechanism and operating the internal handle.

The fitter then set about the half-shaft with a hacksaw and shortened it, also removing the springs. Having modified the spindles he re-assembled the handles. It worked perfectly...

...for long enough for the fitter to get to his next job.

At this point, because of the lack of springs, the spindle jumped out of the mechanism, leaving the internal handle flapping around. Fortunately the retaining bolts are on the inside of the door, and I was able to open it. He came back as an emergency job and temporarily installed a solid spindle so that I could at least get in and out of the house, then promised to be back.

This was in December. Six months later and several chasing emails and phone calls and I lost patience. Having obtained the manufacturer of the door and lock mechanism, I did a bit of research to discover what the correct part was.

It turns out the 'split spindle' on this type of door is a single item, the same length as the solid one but with a hinge and a spring on one end:

It also turned out that the correct part was available from Amazon for less than £10. So I figured it was best to cut my losses and ordered one.

It turned up a day later (thanks for the free month of Prime!) and I set about fitting it. It turned out to be surprisingly easy.

Firstly the two bolts on the inside handle need to be removed. This then allows the outer handle to be slid away from the door:

The bodged pair of split spindles could now be removed and replaced with the correct type.

Finally, the whole thing could be re-assembled and tested.

Of course, nothing is straightforward. The first time I tried to pull the door closed on the latch, it popped open again when I leaned against it. It took about half an hour's 'messing around' getting the strike plate properly aligned, but eventually I cracked it.

I now have a door that locks from outside when closed. Which is what I should have had when the door was replaced.