After the Revolution people in our building decided that they wanted to put a new, more secure, door at the front of the building. So by the end of February the thin glass door had been removed and a large patterned iron metal gate was being soldered in place.
The gate was put in place and looked very impressive. For the first month or so it didn't have a lock on it and so with a bit of a push (it was quite heavy) we could swing it open.
The next step was that the intercom was installed. This invovled lots of men and wires - and a fair amount of drilling through concrete. It was quite late in the evening by the time they made it to our apartment to drill, but even after that they were drilling in the apartment upstairs and running the cable outside the building. The highlight of the evening was the naked wires on the masonry drill:
As they'd got the intercom sorted it seemed time to add the lock to the door. Before this was added though we had a knock on our door from Samah upstairs saying that they needed a little extra money for the keys and locksmith. We didn't mind chipping in as Mdm Kawthar, our landlady, had paid the flat's share for the door in February.
With new keys cut we were all set and the door started to be locked and the intercom started to be put to use.
With no glass in the door though there was realistically a fundamental part of the "increased security" that was lacking. Anyone could just stick their hands through the bars in the frame and turn the handle from the insde. In fact that is what we would normally do when we got home - much easier than fumbling with keys.
This was one aspect of our home security that we failed to tell the Prebbles when we gave them a key to our place in August when they moved out. It turns out that they couldn't get the key to work in the gated door and didn't think about sticking their hand through - so only managed to visit our apartment once!
With the door being so heavy, and everyone constantly reaching through to turn the handle (from an angle), the catch became misaligned. This wasn't a big problem, just a bit annoying that you had to wiggle it sometimes to get it to turn. But coming back in September it seemed to be at a whole new level of "mis-aligned" and would more likely catch than turn! It was at this point that we started to have to go downstairs to let people in to the building, rather than being able to just buzz them in!
Then to try and increase the security, the bowab took to double locking the door. This meant you could no longer just reach through. It also meant you couldn't buzz people in. A great idea, except that they took to locking the door at about 6pm!!! So if we were having any deliveries (not that we have them every night!!) we had to go downstairs to let them in. Why do we have an intercom, again?
It was with some surprise then that we came home two days ago to discover the bowab and two workmen fitting glass panels to the door! Only ten months on from the door being fitted, then! Coming up the stairs we could see that the workman's ladder crossed both doors and so we thought we'd wait a bit until he'd finished up there. But no need, as the other workman just pushed the ladder so that the angle decreased to the point where it was only just spreading his weight (!) while we came through the door.
We were feeling pretty good about the new glass and the fixed catch on the door until the guy came to deliver our ironing....and the buzzer wouldn't buzz! So down I go and let him in. Later that night another delivery arrives and again the buzzer isn't working. We guess that they did something to the connection when fitting the glass, but it is only in the morning that we notice a ball of cables hanging above the door - they've completely severed the system! Oh well!
It's a short 48-hours between the glass being fitted and the wires being reconnected and so now we not only have a huge metal gate, but we have a lock that locks, a catch that catches, an intercom that buzzes and glass that...well, is glass! Phew!
The gate was put in place and looked very impressive. For the first month or so it didn't have a lock on it and so with a bit of a push (it was quite heavy) we could swing it open.
The next step was that the intercom was installed. This invovled lots of men and wires - and a fair amount of drilling through concrete. It was quite late in the evening by the time they made it to our apartment to drill, but even after that they were drilling in the apartment upstairs and running the cable outside the building. The highlight of the evening was the naked wires on the masonry drill:
As they'd got the intercom sorted it seemed time to add the lock to the door. Before this was added though we had a knock on our door from Samah upstairs saying that they needed a little extra money for the keys and locksmith. We didn't mind chipping in as Mdm Kawthar, our landlady, had paid the flat's share for the door in February.
With new keys cut we were all set and the door started to be locked and the intercom started to be put to use.
With no glass in the door though there was realistically a fundamental part of the "increased security" that was lacking. Anyone could just stick their hands through the bars in the frame and turn the handle from the insde. In fact that is what we would normally do when we got home - much easier than fumbling with keys.
This was one aspect of our home security that we failed to tell the Prebbles when we gave them a key to our place in August when they moved out. It turns out that they couldn't get the key to work in the gated door and didn't think about sticking their hand through - so only managed to visit our apartment once!
With the door being so heavy, and everyone constantly reaching through to turn the handle (from an angle), the catch became misaligned. This wasn't a big problem, just a bit annoying that you had to wiggle it sometimes to get it to turn. But coming back in September it seemed to be at a whole new level of "mis-aligned" and would more likely catch than turn! It was at this point that we started to have to go downstairs to let people in to the building, rather than being able to just buzz them in!
Then to try and increase the security, the bowab took to double locking the door. This meant you could no longer just reach through. It also meant you couldn't buzz people in. A great idea, except that they took to locking the door at about 6pm!!! So if we were having any deliveries (not that we have them every night!!) we had to go downstairs to let them in. Why do we have an intercom, again?
It was with some surprise then that we came home two days ago to discover the bowab and two workmen fitting glass panels to the door! Only ten months on from the door being fitted, then! Coming up the stairs we could see that the workman's ladder crossed both doors and so we thought we'd wait a bit until he'd finished up there. But no need, as the other workman just pushed the ladder so that the angle decreased to the point where it was only just spreading his weight (!) while we came through the door.
We were feeling pretty good about the new glass and the fixed catch on the door until the guy came to deliver our ironing....and the buzzer wouldn't buzz! So down I go and let him in. Later that night another delivery arrives and again the buzzer isn't working. We guess that they did something to the connection when fitting the glass, but it is only in the morning that we notice a ball of cables hanging above the door - they've completely severed the system! Oh well!
It's a short 48-hours between the glass being fitted and the wires being reconnected and so now we not only have a huge metal gate, but we have a lock that locks, a catch that catches, an intercom that buzzes and glass that...well, is glass! Phew!
