Bifold patio doors
Sound the dream don’t they? They can be. But it’s not as simple as just choosing the size and material you want.
1. The walls have it
What we didn’t realise and our architect and builder neglected to mention (until it was too late thanks to a diamond edged blade) was that it’s not just the size and whether that is a standard or non standard size that has a significant impact on the cost.. the supporting walls are just as important.
We naively said we wanted the largest open space possible so that the inside felt connected to the outside. What we didn’t realise was that if you retain enough of the supporting brickwork on either side, you only need a steel lintel across the top and the brickwork up the sides is strong enough to support the steel.
What we found out was that we now needed 2 further steel beams down either side of the wall to support said lintel. We told the builder we didn’t want this as it was several thousand pounds per steel beam. They said, we already cut the back wall with a diamond edged blade immediately upon starting work as the tool was needed elsewhere. This was before we’d agreed the course of action to take so was quite frustrating and meant we had to foot an unexpected cost of about £5k before we’d barely begun. So much for a 20% contingency…
This does give a neat finish but if we’d known, we may not have decided it was worth the additional cost and it would have been nice to have had the choice.
Lessons learned
- Consider whether it is really worth making a slightly wider entrance when the supporting walls already exist and you will need more expensive and not carbon friendly steel
- Make sure the builder is clear and does not jump the gun before you have agreed
2. Some builders cannot measure correctly
We were meant to have underfloor heating in the kitchen / diner. Then my partner did some calculations and realised the builder had ordered the very expensive bi-fold doors in the wrong size.
They were too big for the gap once you’d accounted for the new concrete layer, insulation and underfloor heating. He desperately tried to get them to amend the order but in the end we had to change as the only option was to pay for another set of doors and that wasn’t an option.
Lessons learned
- Sometimes the builders do not talk to each other at all. This may have been worse as the owner of the company never bothered to visit site, initially due to Covid restrictions but never again thereafter (the builder had come recommended so that didn’t save us).
- Try to be on site as much as possible and keep asking them over and over.
- Get them to share with you (or your architect) the dimensions of any proposed orders so you can check their measurements.