Getting up to the door, lane by lane
The old town is walked, not driven. From the cours Honoré Cresp you climb rue Jean Ossola, rue Droite or the flights of steps that lead up to the place aux Aires, and the equipment finishes the journey by hand. The stairwells in these medieval buildings are narrow and turn back on themselves: what can actually be carried up to the landing is part of the diagnosis.
On these old doors, often narrower than anything made today, the difference between a door pulled shut and a door locked with a key changes everything. Pulled shut, only the spring latch holds the leaf. Locked, the deadbolt is out, and in the renovated flats around the place aux Aires a multipoint lock engages several points up the height of the leaf.
In Magagnosc, Plascassier or Le Plan de Grasse the difficulty shifts. The postal address rarely leads to the door: the private track is shared between several houses, the gate carries a number that is not the one on the house, and a property often includes an annexe and a store as well. Give a landmark visible from the road, and say which door is the one that stays shut.
Proof of occupancy, then what is decided at the door
No door is opened on request alone. You have to show that you occupy the property: an identity document with the address, a rent receipt, an energy bill, a home insurance policy. If the papers are locked inside — easily done when you have walked down to the market on the place aux Aires — say so on the phone: written confirmation from a neighbour or the building manager can stand in.
Grasse houses a great many short-stay occupants: seasonal workers here for the flower harvest, tenants renting by the week, owners reopening a house among the restanques after the winter. A lease, a rental agreement or a deed all serve as proof; failing that, we go through the owner or the agency that looks after the property.
The method is decided at the door, never over the phone. We look at the play in the leaf, the type of lock, the state of the frame, what the stairwell allows. A detailed quote is presented before the work and an itemised invoice at the end. Until then, slide nothing into the rebate: a blade that snaps inside the old joinery of the old town makes everything that follows considerably harder.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our door opening page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Grasse.