Locksmith for York, Malton, Selby, Easingwold, Tadcaster, Wetherby, Scarborough & Across North Yorkshire.

The answer is an empathic big fat NO!

Most, if not all locks are manufactured with their own oil or grease included. The addition of WD40 typically just clogs them up and does the opposite of what is intended.  This makes them perform worse or in some instances stop them from working altogether.

Some locks do require regular lubricants and manufactures stipulate this when you buy the locks. So, either don’t put any lubricants in locks or follow the manufacturers guidelines for those locks that do require it.

Locksmiths will normally apply the correct lubricants when they service your locks.

The first thing to remember is to NOT attempt to remove the key.

Without the right tools, you are more likely to make it more difficult for the key to be extracted without damaging the lock.

Get professional help by calling a locksmith.

Locks can get jammed for lots of reasons, let’s look at a couple of them.

A) You have a uPVC or composite door, and when you lift the handle up to engage the multi-point locks, they don’t seem to come out of the casing the whole way as they would normally do.

The likely problem is the lock gearbox has failed. In these circumstances you will need to get professional help by calling a qualified locksmith to either repair the gearbox or install a replacement.

B) You have a uPVC or composite door, and you have lifted the handle up to lock it but now the key in the cylinder (barrel) won’t turn all the way around to complete the locking process.

Once again this could be a gearbox failure or in some instances such as an ERA gearbox, typically a piece of the gearbox casing breaks off and works its way down the inside of the gearbox and prevents the cylinder from turning.

C) You have a mortice lock (typically in wooden doors) and the key is simply spinning around and around without locking or unlocking the door.

This happens where the snib on the lock bolt thrower has broken off. We appreciate this is a little technical, but that has what has happened.

The solution here is to replace the bolt thrower inside the lock or replace the lock, either way it’s a job from a professional locksmith.

This can occur when the door is not fitting properly within the door frame.  The door may have dropped or is simply mis-aligned and is not engaging into the locks keeps properly.

If you keep trying to lock the door when it is in this condition you may jam it shut which means you maybe either locked out or locked in.

To ensure the door functions correctly and doesn’t do further damage to the lock, you will need to get the door re-aligned by a professional.

In the case of the handles just being loose, the first step is to tighten up all the screws without causing the screw heads to be damaged.

If the handles are drooping or spinning around the likely problem is the door multi-point locking mechanism is not functioning properly.

Simply replacing the door handles will not solve the issue. The door mechanism will need repairing or the gearbox changing. 

The probable cause of this problem is an inverted lock cam.  This means that when the door is in the locked or unlocked position, the cam is in the wrong position for the key to be extracted.

The typical cause of this is when someone attempts to put a key into the cylinder (lock) while there is a key already in the other side of the lock. You will need to have a locksmith fix this for you or replace the lock.