diff --git a/src/libstore/build.cc b/src/libstore/build.cc
index 392b494e6..cc69ff1c7 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build.cc
@@ -1335,19 +1335,6 @@ void DerivationGoal::tryToBuild()
 {
     trace("trying to build");
 
-    /* Check for the possibility that some other goal in this process
-       has locked the output since we checked in haveDerivation().
-       (It can't happen between here and the lockPaths() call below
-       because we're not allowing multi-threading.)  If so, put this
-       goal to sleep until another goal finishes, then try again. */
-    for (auto & i : drv->outputs)
-        if (pathIsLockedByMe(worker.store.toRealPath(i.second.path))) {
-            debug(format("putting derivation '%1%' to sleep because '%2%' is locked by another goal")
-                % drvPath % i.second.path);
-            worker.waitForAnyGoal(shared_from_this());
-            return;
-        }
-
     /* Obtain locks on all output paths.  The locks are automatically
        released when we exit this function or Nix crashes.  If we
        can't acquire the lock, then continue; hopefully some other
@@ -3739,6 +3726,17 @@ void SubstitutionGoal::tryToRun()
         return;
     }
 
+    /* If the store path is already locked (probably by a
+       DerivationGoal), then put this goal to sleep. Note: we don't
+       acquire a lock here since that breaks addToStore(), so below we
+       handle an AlreadyLocked exception from addToStore(). The check
+       here is just an optimisation to prevent having to redo a
+       download due to a locked path. */
+    if (pathIsLockedByMe(worker.store.toRealPath(storePath))) {
+        worker.waitForAWhile(shared_from_this());
+        return;
+    }
+
     maintainRunningSubstitutions = std::make_unique<MaintainCount<uint64_t>>(worker.runningSubstitutions);
     worker.updateProgress();
 
@@ -3778,6 +3776,12 @@ void SubstitutionGoal::finished()
 
     try {
         promise.get_future().get();
+    } catch (AlreadyLocked & e) {
+        /* Probably a DerivationGoal is already building this store
+           path. Sleep for a while and try again. */
+        state = &SubstitutionGoal::init;
+        worker.waitForAWhile(shared_from_this());
+        return;
     } catch (Error & e) {
         printError(e.msg());
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-store.cc b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
index 7afecc1cf..8a79fc723 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
@@ -992,8 +992,8 @@ void LocalStore::addToStore(const ValidPathInfo & info, const ref<std::string> &
         /* Lock the output path.  But don't lock if we're being called
            from a build hook (whose parent process already acquired a
            lock on this path). */
-        Strings locksHeld = tokenizeString<Strings>(getEnv("NIX_HELD_LOCKS"));
-        if (find(locksHeld.begin(), locksHeld.end(), info.path) == locksHeld.end())
+        static auto locksHeld = tokenizeString<PathSet>(getEnv("NIX_HELD_LOCKS"));
+        if (!locksHeld.count(info.path))
             outputLock.lockPaths({realPath});
 
         if (repair || !isValidPath(info.path)) {
diff --git a/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc b/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
index 587f29598..08d1efdbe 100644
--- a/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/pathlocks.cc
@@ -113,8 +113,10 @@ bool PathLocks::lockPaths(const PathSet & _paths,
 
         {
             auto lockedPaths(lockedPaths_.lock());
-            if (lockedPaths->count(lockPath))
-                throw Error("deadlock: trying to re-acquire self-held lock '%s'", lockPath);
+            if (lockedPaths->count(lockPath)) {
+                if (!wait) return false;
+                throw AlreadyLocked("deadlock: trying to re-acquire self-held lock '%s'", lockPath);
+            }
             lockedPaths->insert(lockPath);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh b/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh
index 2a7de6114..db51f950a 100644
--- a/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/pathlocks.hh
@@ -2,10 +2,8 @@
 
 #include "util.hh"
 
-
 namespace nix {
 
-
 /* Open (possibly create) a lock file and return the file descriptor.
    -1 is returned if create is false and the lock could not be opened
    because it doesn't exist.  Any other error throws an exception. */
@@ -18,6 +16,7 @@ enum LockType { ltRead, ltWrite, ltNone };
 
 bool lockFile(int fd, LockType lockType, bool wait);
 
+MakeError(AlreadyLocked, Error);
 
 class PathLocks
 {
@@ -38,9 +37,6 @@ public:
     void setDeletion(bool deletePaths);
 };
 
-
-// FIXME: not thread-safe!
 bool pathIsLockedByMe(const Path & path);
 
-
 }