The ‘Other’ House: A New French Door!

This is quick little post sharing some updates on Grants parent house, which I talked about in my last blog post (read here), how we’re starting yet another (slow) kitchen renovation! This time, we’ve phased it into numbers and phase 1 was to replace the old dodgy sliding door. This door actually used to open up into a conservatory, which pretty much fell down one day, so it was never really intended as a proper secure back door. It doesn’t even have a real lock, just a kind of bathroom-style lock which no longer works. Since that broke, it’s been ‘locked’ with metal poles to wedge the door tightly shut and prevent intruders getting in. Surprisingly it’s been this way for some few years now and so far it’s actually worked pretty well.

But obviously this is far from ideal; it’s an insurance nightmare and not the most pretty of things either. I personally think sliding doors can look a little dated unless you have a sizeable opening in a modern property. This wasn’t that – this was just dated. Sliding doors obviously don’t open up fully either and I always felt like that was a bit of a shame in this room. So when they said they wanted it replaced, I suggested they went for a french door instead.

Unlike when we had our new french door fitted last year, Grants parents didn’t need any extra building work done. They already had an opening and a properly fitted lintel, so this really helped to keep costs down. They also had the cash up-front so this meant we could use a local company rather than a big firm with finance, which also kept costs down. I found a local company on rated-people.com (J L Glass & Aluminium) who was able to supply and fit it all for a fairly reasonable £895. It took less than a couple of hours and was very much literally a case of in-and-out!

The fitting wasn’t up for my standards initially as it wasn’t sealing at the bottom of one of the doors and the handles weren’t spirit level pefect with one another. But the guy was happy to come back out straightaway the next day and resolve the issues, which was great! It was just a simple adjustment and took literally minutes.

In comparison to our own french door, which we purchased from Evander (read about here), I will say that this one feels a little cheaper, particularly in the handles which don’t snap back to a straight position, like ours do. It means if you don’t position them straight yourself, they don’t hang evenly and look a little floppy. If that makes sense? Things like that kind-of bug me, but really it’s not the worst thing in the world.

The hinges on this door also don’t allow the doors to fully open and fold back, which means they take up more room when they’re open. So for example – you’d have to walk around the door to use the space behind it. Which I would also personally find annoying. But other than these two gripes, it’s a pretty decent door and Grants parents were certainly over the moon with it. Clearly I’m just a bit of a nit-picker 😉

They’ve definitely brightened up the room a whole lot and I think they’ll also make the room feel warmer in winter too. They’re obviously a very worthwhile investment for security too and it’s most certainly kickstarted the kitchen renovation in quite a big way! Here’s a look at the old and new doors from the outside too.

Costs: