Blocking in a window

mahoney

I have 2 windows in my kitchen and was thinking of blocking one up - or half blocking one up so that I would have more wall space for kitchen units. The kitchen is quite small you see. It's a side window on the house. How painful would this job be? Planning permission required, cost etc?

Thanks!!

27col

It would not be very difficult to do, especially if the window is small. You might have trouble matching the bricks, depending on how old the house is. I would doubt whether you would need planning permission. I can't help with costs I'm afraid. You will just have to get a quote from someone in the trade.

Gloomendoom

As far as I am aware, you wouldn't need planning permission to block it up... but you might to open it up again (not to mention building regs).

ormus

i did one in my last house. small window in the wc. when i removed the wc and the wall to make a larger kitchen, i bricked the window hole up. then plastered it up.
outside was easy cause the house was pebbledash.

27col

nowretiredandlazingaround wrote: »

Could you not just put a bit of plywood, perhaps with a nice picture showing to the outside, over the window opening inside?

That way you get the best of both worlds.

Jim

Actually, this is not a bad idea. I was going to mention something along the same lines myself. It would provide the extra wall space and could be easily removed if required at a later date. Also has the merit of being very cheap to do.

MrsE_2

27col wrote: »

It would not be very difficult to do, especially if the window is small. You might have trouble matching the bricks, depending on how old the house is. I would doubt whether you would need planning permission. I can't help with costs I'm afraid. You will just have to get a quote from someone in the trade.

I had a door sealed up & a window put in.

The bricklayer used the old bricked pulled from where we turned the window into French doors.

Its a fantastic match, you can't see any joins.

I want to shrink the window in my bathroom at a later date & put a smaller window in so I can put a walk in shower in.

27col

Obviously there would not be a problem if you have old matching bricks available. But the op is wanting to block up an existing hole so matching bricks are unlikely to be immediately available. It is always a good idea to recover bricks removed during alterations just in case they might come in useful.

Owain_Moneysaver

You would need Building Regs to infill a window and it may not be granted if the result is there is insufficient window remaining as a % of the floor area.

New bricks of the same type will blend in fairly quickly and some trellis over the area will make the join less prominent.

MrsE_2

27col wrote: »

Obviously there would not be a problem if you have old matching bricks available. But the op is wanting to block up an existing hole so matching bricks are unlikely to be immediately available. It is always a good idea to recover bricks removed during alterations just in case they might come in useful.

You can buy second hand bricks though can't you. They would be better than new, better blend in?

But I meant more the way he meshed them into the original brickwork anyway, thats what made it so invisible.

mahoney

Thanks all. There are no spare bricks as far as I know. I wouldn't have thought that was a problem as it would be plastered over inside and outside is pebble dashed.
I don't think window coverage will be an issue as there are2 quite large windows and it's a small room - this is the problem
I like the idea of half blocking and putting a smaller window in so that I get a bit more wall room for cupboards

27col

We could have avoided the discussion about matching bricks if you had told us that it was pebble dash to start with.