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Help! I’m Drooping!
A quick guide to drooping handles
When we have done the ironmongery specification, we ensure that the lock and latch work perfectly to take the handle back to horizontal.
You do not want the handle to be over sprung and stiff but you do want it to return effortlessly to horizontal.
This may sound like something that should need no planning. Unfortunately, there are some very cheap and nasty locks out there. Some handles are not sprung at all and some cheap handles are over sprung to the degree that they are perfectly operated only by Silverback Gorillas.
Where we have specified both the handles and the locks there are three main reasons why we have been out to site with handles not operating as they should:
- Incorrect Fitting
- Incorrect Fitting
- Incorrect Fitting
It is not easy or quick to properly align door handles, it takes care and often contractors are under immense pressure, but it is essential they be properly aligned.
If the handles are unscrewed from the door and spring perfectly well and do not do it when fixed then they must be out of alignment, or binding against the back of the door. Of course with a badly made handle it could be the handle itself which is out of alignment.
So if you have Sagging Handles
- Try loosening off the fixing screws on the handle back plates or roses. If work properly loose there is a binding or misalignment problem. The back of the handle can often protrude from the rear face of the back plate or rose and foul. Making the hole on the door wider will solve this.
- It may help to shorten the spindle if they are too long and causing a bind or misalignment as the door handle is tightened up. Spindles need to be cut to suit the door thickness, so should not be so short that they can disengage with one handle by sliding into the other side. Better wonky than locked in though!
- Check that the spindle is not misaligned with the latch follower. This is common If you look from the door edge with the handle loosened, it should be possible to recognise any spindle misalignment. Try re-drilling the holes. With some handles and locks you may be able to use back to back fixings.