Knocking through a wall to open up lounge and dining room

Waterlily24

We had a similar house years ago. We knocked most of the wall down and put folding doors in the gap. We liked it like that because we could have it either way. The rooms were fairly large though. There wasn't room to eat in the kitchen because of the way the units were put in (both sides) it could have been changed but I wanted lots of cupboards lol. This was in the late 60s.


I still prefer a separate dining room but like space to eat in the kitchen too.

adonis10

I take on board the comments about it a) no longer being 2 separate rooms and b) that it may not appeal to others as much as it does to us. However, I feel a simple solution would be bi-fold doors; one minute its open plan, the next it is two rooms that can be separated. I assume that this still couldn't be classed as 2, but effectively it is. I think see through glass doors with light beaming in is more appealing than a wall.

Dan-Dan

Good bi-fold doors cost a pretty penny

bouicca21

Another vote for think twice about this. You end up with a long thin room that just looks odd - and if you install bifold doors you limit the position of furniture. Knocking the kitchen into the dining room, on the other hand, gives you a much more usable space. If well done it looks as though it was part of the original house design.

I've had a house with a through room. If I ever had another I'd be like MissBiggles and put the wall back.

adonis10

This is a pic from the dining room to the kitchen where there has already been a small bit of wall knocked through (unless it was built like that). The wall straight ahead is the one in question.



Do you think it'd all be too open?


Another option is to knock through, live in it for a few months and then decide if we want to block off the kitchen and put a door in instead.

McTaggus

We contacted the surveyor that we had used for our full structural survey, as he also manages building works. He gave us a full quote, including designing the specifications and putting the work out to tender for us. He also takes liability for the selected builders performance and any damage caused by the works over a longer term period. He's also responsible for ensuring all certification and so forth is achieved and has given us wider guidance on designing and restructuring the entire property layout.

His quote, for the whole thing (RSJ, building work, oversight, etc.) was 2K to knock through from our kitchen to our dining room, with the wall between being structural as its the old exterior wall of the house.

If you are concerned about finding a builder you trust, you might want to consider going down that route. I have fallen foul of builders before, unfortunately, so its the route we're planning on going down for our loft conversion and layout redesign (ours was two houses knocked into one, with little thinking gone into layout - basically just a door put in between the two houses )

Before knocking through any of the rooms, just think about how you are going to use the space. For us, the kitchen is normally the "heart" of the house and everyone sits there in the evenings having a chat while we're cooking and we tend to avoid watching too much TV. As such, it made more sense for us to create a kitchen diner, rather than a living room diner - plus it means I can always close the kids off in the lounge watching a film whenever I just need a break!

Whichever option you choose, wishing you the best of luck with the project and lots of happiness in your new home!

ellie27

You say you are thinking of a lounge/diner. Do you already have a kitchen/diner? If not, then I say that would be better and make more sense than a lounge/diner. We had a lounge/diner in our old house and the dining part was never used and it was wasted space, we had enough space to eat in the kitchen so thats what we done.

In our new home we have a large dining room with a kitchen through the wall - we are looking to knock through to make a big kitchen diner and put doors onto the garden. It will involve knocking down 2 solid 90yr old 4m long load-bearing walls so will be pretty costly!

camptownraces

adonis10 wrote: »

Party wall agreements?


I agree, I doubt it has one, however I am under the impression that they are not prohibitively expensive.

Unless this is a detached house, it will have a party wall with next door.

If your proposed work involves cutting into the party wall for the RSJ, you are obliged to have a party wall agreement with next door. You would have to fund next door's surveyor.

If it's a semi, with halls adjoining, then you shouldn't need one.

adonis10

Ok, so we've had a quote of £3k for the following:

Knock through lounge/diner wall to give a 1.5m gap
Brick up the current lounge door
Open up a new door
Close off some of the knocked through kitchen to make it just about a 1m gap
Brick up a fireplace
Move 2 radiators
Move a light switch
Plaster 6 walls and make good everything (skirting boards etc)
Materials

Thoughts on the quote?

jimbog

Sounds reasonable. VAT included? They'll take away all the waste?