Most townhouses and chalets in Sant Joan’s partidas, in Lloixa and Salafranca and round the town, have a metal gate on the street. It is the first lock anyone reaches, the one that sits out in the sun and the rain all year, and the one that is slammed shut by everyone who passes through it.
Sooner or later it stops latching.
Why gates stop latching
- The gate has dropped. Hinges wear, posts lean a few millimetres, and the latch tongue ends up below the hole in the keep.
- The gate has moved sideways. Heat expands metal; a gate that latches in winter can bind in August, and the other way round.
- The latch is stiff. Dust and rust in the lock body stop the tongue springing back out.
- The keep has worked loose from its post, so the tongue pushes it aside instead of dropping in.
Four checks with the gate in front of you
- Close the gate slowly and watch the tongue. Does it hit above, below or beside the hole in the keep? That tells you which way the gate has moved.
- Lift the gate slightly by the handle and close it. If it latches when lifted, the hinges have dropped.
- Press the tongue in with your finger. It should spring back crisply. If it is slow, the lock body is dirty or worn.
- Wiggle the keep. If it moves, its screws or rivets have loosened.
A dry PTFE spray on the tongue and the key way often helps a stiff latch. Avoid thick oil: it collects the dust that caused the problem.
What a locksmith does
- Realigns the keep to where the tongue now falls, or adjusts the gate on its hinges where they allow it.
- Cleans or replaces the lock body. Gate locks are made to be replaced, and a new one often costs less than an hour of fighting the old.
- Fits a cylinder that matches the front door, if you want one key for both. That needs planning, because the cylinders are ordered together.
What a locksmith does not do is weld or rebuild the gate itself; a badly bent gate is a job for a metalworker, and you are told so.
While you are at it
The gate is usually as old as the house. The front door may still have its first cylinder, and the older houses of the huerta have doors of a very different kind.