Catch 22

In my last post I was talking about securing my new doors, which I collect on Friday. Since then I've been trying to get straight answers about the new British Standard for mortice locks that I need to follow (in order to remain insured) and have found myself in a Catch 22 situation.

There used to be an old BS for locks where the deadbolt was 14mm. Now there's a new standard where the bolts are 20mm long. If you're fitting a new lock, like me, you have to use the new kind. All very well and good.

The problem is that you can't get the French door rebate kits for the new wave of BS-compliant locks being released. So, if you're fitting new French doors, you can't use the new BS and so there's no way to comply with the regulations, which state that doors fitted henceforth use the latest BS.

So, what do I do? Well, the only thing I can do is fit the old BS mortice lock, with an old-style rebate kit and consider upgrading in a couple of weeks when the newer rebate kit is released. Which will cost me £60 that I didn't really need to be spending.

Note that all this information comes from the guy at the Chubb "supercentre" I've been dealing with round the corner. Apparently he's tried other manufacturers and it's the same story. They've rushed to release locks for the new standard but none have bothered to create rebate kits.