UPVC Door Repair

1. Gearbox failure: the multipoint gearbox is the small cassette inside the door that converts the lift of the handle and the turn of the key into bolt movement. It is full of plastic and zinc components that wear out after 5–15 years of use. Symptom: handle lifts but key will not turn, or key turns but bolts will not throw. Fix: gearbox replacement, £179–£229 fitted, normally from van stock.

2. Hinge drop: UPVC doors are heavy, and over time the hinges flex and the door sags 2–5mm on the latch side. Symptom: latch will not catch, you have to lift the handle hard to lock. Fix: hinge replacement or adjustment, £119–£189 fitted depending on hinge type. 3. Keep misalignment: the keeps (the metal plates the bolts engage with on the frame) work loose. Symptom: bolts grind or refuse to throw. Fix: re-alignment and re-fixing, sometimes new keeps.

4. Cylinder failure: the euro cylinder itself wears or breaks — pins jam, the cam shears, a key snaps. Symptom: key turns part-way and stops, or key will not enter at all. Fix: cylinder replacement, £99–£139 fitted depending on whether you upgrade to TS007 3-star anti-snap at the same time (we strongly recommend you do).

We stock and replace gearboxes for every major UK multipoint system: GU (Ferco, Secury, Europa), Fuhr (Multisafe), Maco (Z-TS, M-TS), Yale (G2000, YS170), Avocet (WMS), ERA (Vectis, Saracen), Mila (Master, Coldseal), Lockmaster (Mila, Fullex), Roto (NT, NX), Winkhaus (heritage, AV2/AV3), Saracen, Fullex, Millenco, Asec and Kenrick. Identifying the system correctly first time is the difference between a one-visit fix and a two-visit fix — our engineers carry a printed identification chart and recognise most systems on sight.

Gearbox replacement is normally completed in 45–75 minutes. The strip is removed from the door edge in one piece, the new gearbox spliced in, the bolts re-attached, the keeps re-aligned and the door cycled until the action is smooth and the key throws cleanly from inside and outside.

A dropped door is the single most common cause of UPVC "my key won't turn" calls. The hinges are doing too much work, the door has sagged a few millimetres on the latch side, and the bolts no longer line up with the keeps in the frame. The customer feels it as a key that grinds, a handle that needs lifting hard, or a door that needs leaning into to lock.

Most dropped doors can be re-aligned by adjusting the existing hinges — flag hinges and butt hinges both have lateral and vertical adjustment screws. If the hinges themselves are worn or bent we replace them with a matched set, typically £119–£189 for the pair fitted. A re-aligned door should close softly under its own weight and lock cleanly with a finger on the handle, not a shoulder.

Beyond the gearbox, hinges and cylinder, almost every external UPVC component eventually wears: handles snap or droop, the spring inside the handle fails, escutcheons (the surround plates) crack, letter plates seize, weather seals perish. We carry the common Yale, Hoppe, Mila, Fab&Fix, Trojan, Avocet and ERA handle ranges on the van in white, gold, chrome and black.

Handle replacement on its own is typically £79–£119 fitted including the handle. We will not replace a handle without first checking the gearbox — a stiff or failed handle is often the symptom rather than the cause, and replacing the handle without addressing the gearbox underneath simply postpones the problem by a few weeks.

A full UPVC door costs £900–£2,500+ supplied and fitted depending on style, glass and brand. A complete mechanism, hinge, cylinder and handle overhaul costs £400–£600 fitted. If the door itself is structurally sound — frame square, sash flat, glass intact and sealed, weather seals intact — overhauling the working parts is almost always better value than replacing the whole door.

The doors we recommend replacing are: badly sun-bleached or warped sashes, blown sealed units (misted glass) combined with other failures, frames with rotten timber sub-frames, and doors that have been forced or attacked and no longer sit square. We will give you an honest opinion either way and we do not sell or fit replacement doors ourselves, so there is no commercial incentive in our recommendation.

If we are already on site replacing a gearbox or hinges, the marginal cost of upgrading the cylinder to TS007 3-star anti-snap is small (typically £30–£60 over the standard cylinder price) and it dramatically improves the security of the door. We strongly recommend it on every street-facing UPVC door — lock snapping is the most common UK UPVC break-in method and a 3-star Kitemarked cylinder eliminates the risk almost entirely.

Brand recommendations: Brisant Ultion for the strongest all-round defence including a £1,000 break-in guarantee; Avocet ABS for proven mass-market anti-snap with similar guarantees; Mul-T-Lock MT5+ for the highest pick and bump resistance and restricted-profile keys.

Gearbox replacement: £179–£229 fitted. Hinge replacement (pair): £119–£189 fitted. Re-alignment without parts: £89–£119. Euro cylinder replacement (standard): £99 fitted. Anti-snap TS007 3-star cylinder upgrade: £119–£139 fitted. Premium high-security cylinder (Ultion, ABS, MT5+): £179–£229 fitted. Handle replacement: £79–£119 fitted. Full mechanism strip and replace: £249–£349 fitted.

All pricing is fixed and agreed before any work begins. No call-out fee, no surcharge for evenings or weekends, no hidden VAT. Card payment, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank transfer accepted on completion.

We cover Slough (SL1, SL2, SL3), Reading (RG1–RG6, RG30, RG31), Oxford (OX1–OX4), Windsor (SL4), Maidenhead (SL6), Bracknell (RG12, RG42), Heathrow (TW6, UB7), Harrow (HA1–HA3), Uxbridge (UB8, UB10) and Staines (TW18, TW19), with the same fixed pricing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Average attendance into our core West London, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire coverage area is 20–40 minutes. Engineers are positioned across Slough, Langley, Iver, Uxbridge, Hayes, Heathrow, Staines, Windsor, Maidenhead, Bracknell, Reading, Earley, Tilehurst, Oxford, Harrow and the M4/M40/M25 corridor so we are almost never further than 20 minutes from your door.