A little reconfiguration

Rural_Life

I love most things about my house but I have a bug bear that either I need to solve or it will mean I don't want this as my forever home. Seems petty...

I have patio doors and I hate them and the location. Patio doors are off my living room which has a knock on effect of the room lay out.
I have a window into my dining room which then leads onto my kitchen (windowless).

My thoughts are to change the patio doors in living room to a window and put french doors in place of the window into my dining room.
Pros, in my mind, more light into the dining room and kitchen, access out onto decking from dining room. No patio doors mean less draughty (cold windy Scotland) and I could reconfigure the room or put sofa under window.
Any cons??

What's everyone's thoughts and what do I need to consider to move forward. Any ideas of costings involved?

CliveOfIndia

Things like this are always highly subjective.

Firstly, if this is the only thing that stops it becoming your forever home, then it's a no-brainer - do it.

My thoughts from your description .....

Get rid of the doors in the living room, replace with a window = less light.  May not be an issue, but needs thinking about.

More light in a kitchen/diner, gotta be a good thing (no windows in the kitchen?  Would it be feasible to add a window whilst you're at it?  Sounds a tad claustrophobic to me).

Costs - no idea.  You really need to get a reputable builder (ideally 3) to give you some quotes.  I'd hazard a guess that replacing the doors in the living room with a window would be not too expensive, as presumably the necessary lintels and what-not are in place.  So it's largely cosmetic rather than structural work.

Replace window in dining room with patio doors - the opposite.  Odds on some sort of support will need to be added as the doors will be much wider than the existing window.

Get a good builder who knows what they're doing.  As always, word of mouth is far better than Check-A-Trade or whatever.  If you have a local community Facebook page, that can be a good start - ask local residents who they would recommend (ask for recommendations, don't just click on an advert that may pop up).

A competent builder will also know whether it needs planning permission or whatever - again, not my area of expertise, but this is why it's so important to get a trustworthy company to do the job.  A big national firm won't give two hoots about you after they've been paid; a local family-run business lives or dies by their local reputation - they want you to recommend them to others when they've finished.

gwynlas

You need to decide whether you would prefer patio doors that slide or french doors that open, Would you consider bi fold doors as another option? If there is a back door off your kitchen and you install other means of getting out you could half block doorway and install a window

Rural_Life

CliveOfIndia said:

My thoughts from your description .....

Get rid of the doors in the living room, replace with a window = less light.  May not be an issue, but needs thinking about.

More light in a kitchen/diner, gotta be a good thing (no windows in the kitchen?  Would it be feasible to add a window whilst you're at it?  Sounds a tad claustrophobic to me).

Hi, thanks for replying.

The patio doors are SW facing so get the sun and it gets ridiculously hot and bright, even in Bonnie Scotland, spend half the summer with blinds closed as too bright.
My remedy was a decent size window as a replacement so 5x3ft, so still long for the sunlight but less than half the depth of the patio doors, will still need a blind for the summer.

The kitchen and dining room are combined so roughly 20ft long. The window is SW so gets plenty of light and only really need to use kitchen lighting when dusk hits. French doors will add to the during the day light and the utility room next door is very bright so that helps also.
The kitchen is internal so adding a window is not an option.

I think I'm pricing myself out of the project in my own head due to naivety on these matters.
I thought it might even need architect drawings or engineering drawings and local council permissions?

I'll definitely be doing my homework re builders and scouring local FB recommendations, where possible I like to give work to the "local little guys" 

Slinky

The window you plan to turn into doors, does it have a radiator below it? This will need relocating so factor that into your costs also.

Rural_Life

Slinky said:

The window you plan to turn into doors, does it have a radiator below it? This will need relocating so factor that into your costs also.

No, nothing, no sockets, radiators etc

markin

You could use card to block the patio doors, see if the size you want lets in enough light, also could build a simple removable wall blocking the fixed part, Or just have it tinted.

Could swapping the dining room and living around work?

I would guess around £4-5k, cheaper than moving costs.

Rural_Life

Thanks for your input 😊 I like the idea of using card to show what it would be like light level wise before making the big decision.
No couldn't switch around due to proximity to kitchen and the log burner.
I'll prob be getting a tiny put on the window replacing the patio doors, if that is the option, due to how bright it is anyway.