Door, Window & Lock Care Tips for a Delhi Home

1. Do not plane a swollen door in the monsoon

This is the mistake that turns a seasonal nuisance into a permanent one.

A door catching in August is usually swollen with humidity. Plane it down to fit and you have removed wood that the door needed — so by December, when the air is dry again, it has shrunk back and you are left with a visible gap, a draught and a lock that no longer aligns.

• If it started sticking recently and the weather is humid, wait. It will usually settle.
• If it sticks all year round, that is not humidity — it is hinges, a dropped frame or a settled floor, and those are the things to fix. Our sticking door guide covers the diagnosis.
• Check the hinge screws first, always. A loose top hinge lets the door sag and catch, and tightening it is a two-minute job that people skip straight past on the way to a plane.

2. Clean the sliding window tracks — nobody does

The bottom track of a sliding window is where Delhi’s dust goes to live. Filled with grit, the rollers stop rolling and start dragging, which wears the roller and then the track itself.

• Vacuum the track, then wipe it out with a damp cloth wrapped round a knife or a stiff brush. Twice a year is enough.
• Do not oil the track. Oil turns dust into paste and makes it worse. Use a dry silicone spray on the rollers if anything.
• Check the drainage holes at the outer edge of the track are clear — blocked, they let monsoon rain back up into the room.
• A window that has become heavy to slide usually needs the rollers replaced, not more force.

3. Locks: graphite, not oil

• Never put cooking oil, general-purpose oil or grease into a lock cylinder. It collects dust and eventually seizes the mechanism — the exact opposite of the intended effect.
• Use a dry graphite lubricant or a proper lock spray. A pencil rubbed on the key works in a pinch.
• A key that has become stiff is a warning, not a quirk. Locks give notice before they fail, and they always fail at the worst moment. Deal with it while the door still opens.
• If a key is hard to turn only when the door is closed, the problem is alignment, not the lock — the latch is fighting the strike plate. That is a hinge or frame adjustment.
• Keep the spare key somewhere other than inside the flat it opens.

4. Two checks, twice a year

Do these when the season turns — roughly March and October — and most door and window problems never get as far as being jobs.

• Tighten every hinge screw in the flat. It takes ten minutes with a screwdriver and it is the single highest-value habit here. If a screw spins without biting, the hole has worn — a carpenter can plug and re-drill it, and that is far cheaper than a re-hung door.
• Check the door sweep and window seals. They keep out dust in winter and rain in monsoon, and they are cheap to replace when they perish.

Batch anything you find into a single visit rather than calling separately — our carpenter charges guide covers the per-job rates and the day-rate guide covers when booking a day is the cheaper way to clear a list.