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Multipoint Door Lock FAQs

Multipoint door locks became popular in the 1980’s when UPVC plastic conservatories and front doors became a popular choice for residential home owners. Because of the flexible nature of the material, the multipoint lock was invented to provide additional security to the top and bottom of the door frame to prevent easy break ins.

Now you will commonly find a multipoint door lock on a UPVC plastic or composite timber door.

A multipoint door lock comprises of a centre gearbox, a faceplate usually the length of the door, and additional locking points positioned at different places at the bottom and top of the faceplate.

The Centre Gearbox
The gearbox is positioned at the centre of the faceplate and is where the operation of locking and unlocking is performed. Usually the gearbox will have a latch which retracts when a handle is operated, and a deadbolt which extends to lock the door as a key is turned. You may find some multipoint locks have a hook instead of a deadbolt.

The Faceplate
Faceplates come in varying widths and styles to suit different door profiles. Most common is a flat square ended faceplate but you can also get a radius rounded end faceplate usually found on composite doors.

Additional Locking Points
There are a wide variety of different locking mechanisms all providing varying levels of security situated further up or down the faceplate away from the centre gearbox. Some multipoint door locks will only have 2 additional locking points whereas others will be classed as a higher level of security and can range up to 8 additional locking points.

Commonly found types of additional locking points are:

Rollers
Mushrooms
Hooks
Deadbolts
Pins
Wedges
Round bolts

Overall multipoint door locks are one of the most secure ways to lock your upvc plastic or composite timber door. The additional locking points provide extra security at points in the door that may usually be susceptible to break in and entry.

As with most locks, multipoint door locks offer differing levels of security from one another. This level of security will depend on a few things like the number of additional locking points, what those locking points are (rollers, mushrooms, hooks, deadbolts, pins etc), the operation of the lock, and the level of security of the accompanying handles and cylinder.

Here’s a list of the additional locking points and extra features available on some models:

Locking Points

Deadbolts
Rollers
Mushrooms
Offset Cam
Sliders
Pin Deadbolt
Hook down
Hook up
Small Hook
Down hook above Pin
Up hook above pin
AV2
Hook and Deadbolts
Round Bolts
Poseidon
Thunderbolt

Extra Features

Shootbolts
Entry Guard
Lockout Facility
Holiday Lock

There are several ways that multipoint door locks can operate to change from a position of unlocked to locked and back again.

Lift Lever Operation
To Lock - Lifting the door handles upwards causes all the additional locking points to engage. Turn the key in the cylinder clockwise to throw the centre gearbox deadbolt or hook into the lock position and lock the additional locking points.
To Open – Turn the key in the cylinder anti-clockwise to retract deadbolt or hook back into the centre gearbox. Push the handles downwards to disengage and retract the locking points.

Nightlatch Locking
To Lock – On closing the door, the latch is automatically engaged. Lift the door handle upwards to engage the locking points. Turn the key in the cylinder clockwise to throw the centre gearbox deadbolt or hook into the lock position and lock the additional locking points.
To Open – Turn the key in the cylinder anti-clockwise to retract deadbolt or hook back into the centre gearbox. Push the handles downwards to disengage and retract the locking points. A quarter turn of the key will then retract the latch.

Key Wind
To Lock – On closing the door, the latch is automatically engaged. Turn the key in the cylinder clockwise 2 full rotations will to throw the centre gearbox deadbolt or hook into the lock position and lock the additional locking points.
To Open – Turn the key in the cylinder anti-clockwise 2 full rotations to retract deadbolt or hook back into the centre gearbox and retract the additional locking points. A quarter turn of the key will then retract the latch.

Fastlocking
To Lock - Lifting the door handles upwards causes all the locking points to engage and lock. There is no need to turn the key.
To Open – Turn the key in the cylinder anti-clockwise to retract deadbolt or hook back into the centre gearbox. Push the handles downwards to disengage and retract the locking points. A quarter turn of the key will then retract the latch.

Automatic locking
To Lock – Closing door causes all the locking points to engage. Turn the key to deadlock the mechanism.
To Open – Turn the key in the cylinder anti-clockwise to retract deadbolt or hook back into the centre gearbox. Push the handles downwards to retract the locking points. A quarter turn of the key will also retract the latch.

Common signs that your multipoint door lock is faulty

The door handle drops or feels loose.
The locking points no longer engage or retract fully and show signs of wear.
The door handle is stiff, makes a grinding noise or you need to use excessive force to pull the lever down.
You need to use excessive force when turning the key to operate the deadbolt/hook.
One or more of the locking points fail to operate all together when you operate the handle.

Multipoint door locks for French doors
ERA Multipoint door locks for French doors

Multipoint door locks for stable doors
KFV Multipoint Door Lock for Stable Doors
Fuhr Multipoint Door Lock for Stable Doors

Multipoint door lock operations
Lift Lever
Nightlatch Locking
Key wind
Fast Locking
Automatic locking

You would normally find a standard mortice lock in a solid wooden door. You wouldn’t typically find a multipoint lock in solid wooden door because the wood tends to warp and can cause a full length multipoint door lock to bend and become inoperable.

Because of this you would tend to commonly see multipoint door locks in UPVC plastic doors or wooden composite doors.

Multipoint door locks have a much longer faceplate than a mortice lock, approximately the length of the door profile. They can offer a superior level of security because of the additional locking points located near the top and bottom of the long faceplate as well as at the centre. Mortice locks only offer security at the central point of a solid timber door.

Commonly; multipoint locks will be operated by a euro cylinder key whereas a mortice lock traditionally are operated using a mortice key although you can now get ERA Vectis multipoint door locks that allow the use of a mortice key blank to operate the multipoint door lock.

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Multipoint Door Lock FAQs