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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Esther Addley

Why dodgy doors are the latest casualty of the UK heatwaves

Woman opening a sliding glass door into her garden.
Doors made from plastic or uPVC tend to swell in the heat, making them bind with the frame and hard to open. Photograph: Aire Images/Getty Images

Thursday was another busy day for Alan Hickman, a Bournemouth-based locksmith who works in the area around the New Forest (“though I’m currently dodging the bit between Ringwood and Eastleigh because that’s closed because of the forest fires”).

Speaking on his way to see a man who can’t close his patio doors – “probably because they’ve got some expansion issues” – he then has a callout to see an elderly woman who needs a lockbox installed for her carer, before visiting a customer in Westbourne “to sort another composite door that can’t lock”.

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