moving patio doors

tudorfan22

Not sure if anymone can help me – it might be a bit random, but I wanted our patio doors moved about 4 foot down the wall. Currently our patio doors are positioned towards the end of the wall in our lounge, which means we never get to look out over the garden cos theyre not in the centre of the wall. Does anyone know or have any idea how much or how long it would take a builder to make a hole in the centre of the wall and fit the existing patio doors and then brick up and make good the hole in the wall where the patio door once were?

I don’t need new doors or anything, just want them in the middle of the wall so that I can have a view from lounge and then the place where the old doors were can be bricked up and plastered over.

If its silly money ill put up with them where they are but if I can get it done for a reasonable amount I may try and work on the husband that we should get it done!

bosseyed

Hmmm, timewise its hard to say for sure. Probably towards a week and a half to two weeks. |Depends how many guys will be working on it! There will be some time with a hole in the wall protected only by tarp, so prepare for drafts! None of its particularly complicated, but it needs to be done carefully. I suspect there will be some building control requirements here too as you're altering a structural wall, best to check beforehand with either the council or an approved inspector. Approved inspectors can be a good route, I used one for my works earlier in the year.

Bashing the hole in the wall shouldn't take that long (make sure they put the new lintel in first! Proabably a pre-stressed concrete one), making good the reveals and then moving and refitting the existing doors isn't a massive job. Building a new section of cavity wall in the old hole and the re-plastering internally and presumably re-rendering on the outside will take a little longer.

For a price comparison as part of my kitchen works I had an external doorway blocked up and a hole knocked in an internal dividing wall so not a million miles away from your works, just in seperate bits - price I paid was £1,400 all in, inc VAT. If you do get building control involved then you're looking at around £200 ish for a preliminary visit and a follow visit to sign off the works and provide you with a certificate of compliance. Often this is a good way to sound out potential builders - I went through a number that objected to having building control look over their work, which leads me to suspect they were looking to cut a few corners. Also get as many quotes in as possible - One pair of cowboys tried to tell me that I'd need to run a steel lintel the entire length of the house just to open up the kitchen wall and then suggested a price of around £6k for the privilege.

Be prepared for a load of dirt and dust in the house for the next 6 months too. Brick dust gets EVERYWHERE (despite dust sheets) and you'll be wiping it up and hoovering it off things for ages.