Is the barrel enough? That is settled on site
Every autumn the studios at La Doua and Charpennes change hands. The keyring has passed through a flatmate, a friend, sometimes a letting agent. In that situation only the key profile is in question: one screw comes out of the door edge, the cylinder is swapped, and neither the lock body nor the door is touched. It is the commonest replacement in that student rental stock.
The whole lock gets replaced when the mechanism itself gives way: a bolt that no longer throws, bent linkage on a Tonkin multipoint, a faceplate pulled loose from the edge. On the flush doors of the Cusset blocks, the mortise case is swapped like for like. On an older Ferrandière door with a rim lock, the dimensions of the case govern everything else about the choice.
Measurements are taken on site, before anything is ordered: centre distance, leaf thickness, cylinder length on each side, handing. At Gratte-Ciel none of those figures is standard. A barrel that is too long protrudes and offers a grip; too short and it will not engage. The itemised quotation is presented before work starts, and a detailed invoice is handed over at the end.
Villeurbanne co-ownerships: what is not yours to change
In the large co-owned blocks of Tonkin and Bonnevay, your flat door is private but the building entrance is not. The hall, the bike store, the cellar door and the car park usually sit on a master key plan held by the managing agent. Changing your own landing cylinder cuts you off from nothing, but having a hall key cut goes through the residents' committee.
As the tenant of a furnished flat at Charpennes, you may replace a worn cylinder, or one whose keys have circulated, and doing so when you move in is sensible. Keep the old barrel and hand it back with the new keys when you leave. As a landlord you cannot have the lock changed on a flat that is still occupied, not even between two semesters: while the tenancy runs, access belongs to the tenant.
At Gratte-Ciel one more constraint applies. The district was designed as a coherent whole, so the outer face of the door, its visible ironmongery and its colour are settled in a general meeting before anyone touches them. The cylinder and the mechanism, invisible from the landing, raise no such issue. We say this before ordering, not after fitting.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our lock and cylinder replacement page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Villeurbanne.