Most of my work involves lock repairs and upgrades, while I'm onsite attending to keys and lock installs, I quite often check the customer's external and internal entry doors. Some of the time the damage is caused by quakes and aftershocks, causing doors and windows to misalign, but most of the repairs needed are for worn or forced locks, and one of which is the 4 point Euro Mortice locks on the single hinged and by-fold doors (4 point - meaning 4 different points of locking i.e. top and bottom rods, plus latch and bolt in the middle of the door). The rods are activated by pulling up or throwing the lever handle to activate the 4 points and then turning the key or knob to lock, however anything lever handle, is often yanked or forced in both directions causing damage to the Mortice lock mechanism, which can cause latches and cradle arms to snap which makes the lock extremely difficult to operate or unlock. The rods in my opinion are an overkill and cause so many issues with misalignment that it is best to remove them and only rely on the latch and bolt to lock. There are different brands of euro locks and some live on forever while some fault and break, and they have very delicate mechanisms, and often parts are not available. I recently had to open a customer's 4 point lock on a aluminium french door which had completely broken, so I removed his rods in order to replace his lock, he had another 5 euro hinged aluminium doors with drooping handles caused by people hitting the handles to pull open the lock, so I suggested a lock WOF. I returned 2 weeks later to do the WOF check, I removed each lock, opened them to check for fractures and serviced them at the same time, also straightened the twisted spindles connecting the handles. All were in good condition, but could have been an expensive fix if they were damaged. However not all of the euro locks can be opened as they are factory sealed, so sometimes I give them a check over and lite service.

There is a saying I heard years ago when I first started out as a locksmith, "what man can make, man can break".