Botched Install?

[1mrchristopher]

Had a crazy call this morning. Secretary of a place I had worked on last night was locked in the bathroom. I hadn't taken the leverset off the bathroom door, however I had removed the outer lever to look at the way the emergency turn button worked, as the builder had put Schlage hospital privacy levers on the bathroom doors, rather than standard privacy. I put it back on, everything still functioned. And told the owner that I would order some locking levers, as the desire was to be able to lock the bathrooms. I fashioned a key to turn the emergency turnbutton, as they didn't have one, but the owner didn't want it (wasn't even gonna charge for the thing). So this morning, the secretary (who happens to be claustrophobic) goes to use the bathroom and when she is ready to exit, the lever will not retract the latch. A couple guys tore the exterior rose off and ripped the emergency turn button out before someone figured out that they could loid the latch. She was free by the time I arrived, but the phrase: "madder than a wet hen," certainly applied. I truly felt bad for her, but I was terribly confused as to what had happened. Upon disassembly what I found was that the latch was completely separated from the lock body. What's more, I could not get it to slide into place as the tabs were bent too far out. I carefully reshaped the tabs so that it would assemble correctly, and can only assume that whoever put the latch on was having trouble getting it to seat (the door had a mortise adapter plate which tended to pull the latch forward about an 1/8 of an inch), and pushed in on the latch itself to get it to catch, rather than on the faceplate of the latch. Compound that with the fact that they had not centered the lock body in the door, and all I can think is that when she went to exit the latch slipped free and trapped her. I went and showed her what had happened and assured her that it would not happen again. I also expressed my sincere apologies, and concern for her wellbeing. I myself am not particularly fond of confined spaces, and being trapped in one would wind me up pretty good. In the meantime, they have a somewhat ugly exterior lever (I filed out the sharp edges left by their prying the emergency turn button out, and replaced the rose with one from a passage set I had changed out last night) but I can rest assured that the secretary won't be trapped again in that particular bathroom.

Am I on the right track? Could anything else have caused the latch to separate from the body and then have the tabs bent to the point of not seating? I'm still shook up by the whole experience, but I am feeling quite certain that I couldn't have caused it by simply removing and replacing the lever itself.

[2octops]

If it was not through bolted someone could have tourqued the handle hard enough to bed the tabs on the latch and let it come apart.

Sounds like a poor initial install to me that finally came apart.

[1mrchristopher]

It was through bolted, but not well. There was some play, and the exterior lever was binding. I should have disassembled it last night, I would have caught it, and saved everybody time and heartache/headache. Considering that I did touch that door, even though there is no way I can fathom that I caused the issue, I am not charging the service call or labor from this morning. They have more work for me, and it seems that a little give on my part might help to get us past this little upset.

[dmcintyre86]

Sounds to me like whoever did the initial install on the hardware botched this one. I run into SOOOO many sets in the field that make me question the previous smith or contractor...i like to assume it must have been a contractor. hehe

When these sets are installed incorrectly or out of adjustment and then you factor in wear-and tear over time...the clock is just ticking down till it malfunctions.

I swear these crappy installs keep us in business most of the time.

BTW: the way you handled the situation was "on-point"! I tip my hat to you for the professionalism and forensic locksmithing you did to identify the problem, and quell things over with the lady and the property manager.

Well done Sir!

-Dave

[1mrchristopher]

Many thanks, Dave. I assure you it was a contractor/builder that did the install. I did rekey their front doors, Schlage rim lever with VonD 99 on the interior, and the stripped heads on the screws, plus the one screw broken off in it's stud were very indicative of the everyday contractor's love affair with their screw gun, set on high speed and clutched nearly to drill.

[billdeserthills]

It's nice that you gave them a discount, but I hope they realize that wasn't due to your having done anything wrong. I notice sometimes that when grade 2 hardware is being used on an interior type bathroom door, oftentimes the outer rose doesn't get the adjustment it needs to keep the latch centered, because those "other" guys are too lazy/uncaring/dumb to actually read the instructions and do a good job.