From Gratte-Ciel to Tonkin, getting there is part of the job
Central Villeurbanne is awkward to cross by car. Cours Émile-Zola and cours Tolstoï carry heavy traffic, parking around place Lazare-Goujon is scarce, and the town-centre extension works keep shifting the approaches. Tools often make the last stretch on foot. Give the exact street number, the name legible on the entryphone and the floor: these stairwells serve a great many landings.
Tonkin presents a different problem. Its 1970s blocks are laid out around pedestrian walkways, and the entrances rarely face the street named in the address. A lost fob leaves you standing at the foot of the building with nothing wrong with your own lock — that is a matter for the residence manager. Tell us on the phone whether you are stuck outside or already on your landing; the two jobs differ.
On the La Doua campus, halls of residence have a front desk, house rules and sometimes a master key set. Before calling us, try the porter's lodge: the problem is often settled internally. If the flat is let directly by a private landlord, in one of the blocks along avenue Albert-Einstein, we are back to the standard case and proof of occupancy is required.
Doors from 1934, doors from today
The original flat doors in the Gratte-Ciel blocks are ninety years old: solid timber, generous height, often a rim lock, and a frame that has moved over the decades. The clearance between leaf and frame varies from one landing to the next. That clearance decides what can be attempted — a blade slipped onto a latch bolt, or work on the cylinder once the deadbolt has been thrown.
In the newer schemes north of Gratte-Ciel, around Cusset or on the Carré de Soie fringe, the door is a multipoint lock behind a shroud, sometimes motorised. The shroud hides the linkage and forces a careful, ordered strip-down. Say so when you call, because it changes the tools we bring. Nobody can promise damage-free entry over the phone: we look, we explain, we quote in writing before starting.
Between those two extremes sits most of the Villeurbanne housing stock: 1950s to 1970s blocks in Ferrandière or Croix-Luizet, flush doors fitted with a European cylinder. They usually open without touching the leaf at all. The cylinder itself only gets replaced if we had to drill it, or if the key went missing along with an address in the same bag.
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 Villeurbanne.