What lock / latch do I have, and what's needed to fix?

by Gene
(New Hampshire)

So, of course, BEFORE reading this blog, I had door latch problems. For the last 2 yrs, the lock would lock when in the open position, and vice versa. The other day, the door would not fully close, like it was locked before it was closed, and the toggle wouldn't budge. So, I removed the 4 small metal screws from the faceplate, and herd something fall into the door. I've tried to use several magnets, but no luck. Can I just replace the whole thing, and leave whatever fell in there? I can't tell what I need, and see no brand markings on anything.

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May 25, 2021
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by: Adrian

Hi Gene;

Thanks for posting the great pictures

I went through catalogs going back before 1999 and did not see this lock. In North America and even a lot of Europe and the UK, Roto-Fasco makes perhaps 80 percent of the patio door handles and locks used.

Your lock looks like something proprietary, possibly built by the company that made the patio door to force you to buy replacements from them.

All too often lock designs get phased out and old customers are left out in the cold. My suggestion is replace it with a multi point lock thats easy to source.

To do that check the handles on the door. What is spacing between the two bolts holding the handle on on the inside.

What is the distance from the centerline of the thumbturn to the centerline of the bottom screw holding the handle on. Is it 3-15/16" ?

That would be ideal because it would mean you could install an easy to find multi point mortise lock.

Even if the spacing was not 3-15/16" at the worst you would need to get new handles and drill new through holes at 3-15/16"

For the mortise lock, the slightly complicated part would be making a flat aluminum plate to cover the old lock mortise and be able to pick up the mounting holes for the new lock.

Not an impossible job to fix but one which would require taking some measurements and thinking about how to mount the new lock.

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