What the air off the bay does to a mechanism
Spray carries a long way inland. A door facing the bay, down on the Darse or along the Basse Corniche, takes a salt deposit all year that settles inside the cylinder and on the steel parts. The first symptom never varies: the key catches at one point, then has to be jiggled, then one day it will not turn.
Do not force it and do not improvise a lubricant. Household oil or a greasy penetrating spray holds dust and salt and turns fouling into a paste that jams the pins. We strip it, clean it and look at the real wear on the parts: very often the cylinder comes back to life and no replacement is warranted. On the doors along the quai de l’Amiral Courbet that is the commonest outcome of all: the inspection says so, not the symptom.
A key snapped inside the cylinder follows the same logic, and late summer is when it happens most, on the Port de la Santé locks worn down by the season. The fragment left behind is drawn out with tools made for the job. Pliers or a drop of glue push the piece further in and jam the pins, which makes everything that follows considerably harder.
Doors that bind, houses shut up for the winter
The other common fault is not in the lock but around it. In the old village the old leaves move: the timber swells with the autumn damp, the door rubs, the bolt no longer finds its keep and you lean on it to lock up. Forcing it that way wears the linkage and the follower far faster than ordinary use.
In the Vallon de la Roche the valley floor stays damp and shaded for much of the day. The same thing happens there, shifted in time: doors close badly after the rains, then come right on their own in spring. A door that binds in February and not in June does not necessarily have a lock problem — it has a joinery problem.
Homes closed for months, shutters down over the lanes of Saint-Michel from November to March, present the opposite case: nothing moves and everything sets. On reopening, the first turn of the key is the hardest, and that is when keys snap. Better to try it without insisting, and to call someone out rather than push. An inspection on site always comes before any method or replacement part is named.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our locksmith repairs page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Villefranche-sur-Mer.