The order of the steps matters as much as the repair
Touch nothing before the police have been. Splinters on an old frame in central Givors, tool marks on the faceplate, the position of the bolts are all part of the findings. A door already tidied up makes that record impossible, and it is your claim that suffers. An hour of waiting weighs less than a claim contested later.
Photograph from several angles before anything moves, on a landing at Les Vernes or the front step of a house at Bans: the door from outside, the lock area, the frame, the inside of the property. Report it to the police, then declare the loss within the period your policy sets. The receipt is asked for by almost every insurer.
Permanent repairs come afterwards. In between, temporary securing closes the home without erasing what has to be seen. In Givors that step is not the same in a block in the centre, in a flat at Les Vernes or in an isolated house on the slope. The first look is at what still holds and what has to be propped.
Closing up according to the access that gave way
At Les Étoiles, planted terraces and walkways multiply the exposed faces of a single flat, and the door is not always the way in that was used. The terrace windows and the accesses from an intermediate level are looked at too, otherwise one opening is closed while another stays available. A full circuit of the flat, terrace included, comes before any part is fitted.
In the tenement blocks of the centre the frame is bedded into rubble masonry, and its rebate has been recut several times over successive lock changes. Under a lever it is the frame that splits first, well before the mechanism. So the frame and its fixing into the masonry are put right before the lock is discussed again.
If keys have gone, the cylinders are replaced, including the cellar, the garage and the gate when everything hung on one ring, which is common in the houses at Bans. Keep the parts removed: the drilled barrel, the bent faceplate, pieces of frame. An insurer may ask to see them. The list of accesses involved is drawn up with you, keyring in hand.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our securing your home after a break-in page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Givors.