Choosing a Material
There’s so many different options out there for French doors; Aluminium is great for thinner frames and wider windows, but is also one of the most expensive. Wood is ideal for period properties, but requires more maintenance, is the least secure and you have to make sure they’re made from a quality wood that will stand the test of time, which can also be expensive. Then there’s uPVC, it’s thicker frame means much smaller windows, but it’s cheap and very secure. We knew we wanted uPVC (although I dream of having wood!) for its cheapness, the fact it would match the rest of our uPVC windows and that it would also provide the best security and insulating properties, which this room desperately needed being just single-skin.
Off-the-Shelf or Made-to-Measure?
Off-the-Shelf doors are great for standard sized windows or doors, but they’re not ideal for non-standard measurements. Of course you can build a frame within an existing opening to reduce the size down to a standard measurement – but it’s not really ideal, particularly for large differences in measurements. That being said, off-the-shelf is mass produced and much cheaper to buy, so definitely worth considering if the measurements match up.
Made to measure doors obviously fit more snugly, are more secure and should have no problems with draughts whatsoever, if installed correctly. They are however pricier and you’ll have to wait some few weeks for them to be produced. We’ve opted for made-to-measure.
Doing the Job Yourself
You can absolutely do this job yourself, however you will need to bare in mind that you will need to have your work signed off by local building control. In our area the cost of this was a touch under £300 although it varies through different county’s. You may also need to hire professional tools to cut out the brickwork and you may need to install a new lintel if you don’t already have one (as many old houses don’t) so all these costs will add up and it may not be as cheap as you first expect. If you don’t get the job signed off, you may have problems when selling your house and it may also affect your insurance too.
Using a Local Builder
You can choose to use a builder to do all the work, but if they’re not FENSA registered or part of another appropriate association, their work will also need to be signed off by building control, which you will have to pay for separately. So do make sure you know whether or not they can sign off their own work first! FENSA is the most common association of approved window/door fitters, but there are others too – you can find out more info here. Having a builder (or yourself) install doors also means there will most likely be no guarantees on the actual installation of the door, which is also worth bearing in mind.
Using a Window/Door Company
This probably isn’t going to be your cheapest option, but window companies do offer many other benefits that a builder or yourself doing the work cannot. For one, you may be able to get finance options, you’ll also be covered by guarantees for the installation of the door as well as the manufacture of the door, so you can rest assured that should anything go wrong, you wont have to pay for someone to put things right (this does vary through companies, so make sure to check!). Window and door companies obviously specialise in this area, so you would also expect their installation, door quality and customer service all to be of a higher standard as well.
Getting Quotes
We decided to price up all three options above – using a builder, doing the job ourselves and also using a window/door company. Whilst doing the job ourselves was cheapest, the savings weren’t actually as great as we would have hoped and unless you already have a builder working on your home on other jobs, you may find a quote from them for this job surprisingly higher than expected too. Whilst window companies are the most expensive, their finance options are very tempting and they do offer the best guarantees for peace of mind.
A few things to consider…
- If you’re converting a window into a door (as we are) bear in mind that window/door companies will charge you extra for the building work on-top of their regular pricing, any online quotes wont include this. This work is also sub-contracted out to builders and not usually carried out by the window fitters.
- I also recommend making sure you know whether or not the quote includes a lintel, should you require one. I did read reviews of certain companies (*cough Safestyle *cough*) adding on extra costs for this after the final survey. Try to negotiate a lintel if you think you require one in the initial price.
- Always negotiate and never take the first price. Certain companies (*cough* Safestyle *cough*) play a very strange price game, dishing out extortionate prices and then reducing them minutes later, several times over. Don’t be pressurised into any decision, even if you’re told it’s a “one time only, here and now” offer… they’ll call back later and probably offer you a better deal.
No Comments