"Through Lounge"

Narj

Narj

Narj

Soldato
Joined
19 Feb 2010
Posts
13,254
Location
London
When I bought my place, the surveyor advised against knocking the living room and dining room through (apparently it can make the house lose value), but I'm still toying with the idea, except with folding doors between the two rooms to split them when needed.

Has anyone else done this, and can you get doors that don't have the acoustic dampening properties of cardboard? I remember this being popular years ago so am not sure how it'd go down if I sold the place...

Apparently the through-lounge idea is going a bit out of fashion but I quite like the idea of the extra space... :confused:
 
You can, look for the ones used in schools, top hung so watch the weights. They have a sort of gasket jobby on the bottom that sucks the ground when closed. Dead expensive though.
 
how many similar houses are there nearby, if you can browse rightmove for one which has had it done to compare with one that hasn't. I've found around me it doesn't make a great deal of difference, the only thing is that if I leave my dining room and it's bought by a buy to let, then they'll use it as a 3rd bedroom.
 
I'm considering the same.

My living room and dinging room are in a victorian part of my house and are small compared to the other side of the house (as in victorian two up two down style - the house has been doubled in size but those 2 rooms are original), which is modern. I fancy opening them up as one room and moving the stairs - anyone done this and have an idea on cost? (not planning on doing any work myself!)
 
Ignore the surveyor he is talking rubish, doors or no doors it is unlikely to have a significant negative or poistive effect on the price purely because it is so simple to board up should a future owner wish to. Personally I'd do it with some good quality solid wood doors, I wish we could but sadly the stiarcase gets in the way!
 
I wouldn't bother with the doors - if you do knock it through I can garuntee you'll never close them.
 
it depends if you're planning on selling up in the near future, if the house is going to be much more comfortable to you, and you plan on staying there for a while then it would be worth doing.
the noise through the door can be annoying, the only way around it is a decent door set, although even then it can still be bad, best solution i've seen was a massive sliding door, but not cheap at all!!
shouldn't be that expensive a job if you know what you're doing but will still cost something so you've got to weigh up the cost with the benefit (selling on shouldn't be a worry, you could always block up a doorway if it was going to make that much of a difference!)
 
LOAM said:
You can, look for the ones used in schools, top hung so watch the weights. They have a sort of gasket jobby on the bottom that sucks the ground when closed. Dead expensive though.
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Cheers, I'll ask the builder about it. I'll pop over his place at the weekend as he said he's happy for me to come round and look at what he's done to his place (he's done exactly this).

Abraham said:
how many similar houses are there nearby, if you can browse rightmove for one which has had it done to compare with one that hasn't. I've found around me it doesn't make a great deal of difference, the only thing is that if I leave my dining room and it's bought by a buy to let, then they'll use it as a 3rd bedroom.
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Yeah, technically the living room could be used as a large, 4th bedroom but nvm. I suppose as said above, it doesn't take much effort to put up a partition wall, or if you're anal, a proper brick wall again.

amigafan2003 said:
I wouldn't bother with the doors - if you do knock it through I can garuntee you'll never close them.
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For my purposes, no, probably not, but if I were to sell it to a family, it's likely that they would. Just not sure if it's worth the hassle/money really. :confused:

Spending far too much time in visio sorting out how I'd arrange everything with the doors - they look like they'd be a bit of a pain tbh.
 
PianoBasher said:
For my purposes, no, probably not, but if I were to sell it to a family, it's likely that they would. Just not sure if it's worth the hassle/money really. :confused:

Spending far too much time in visio sorting out how I'd arrange everything with the doors - they look like they'd be a bit of a pain tbh.
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If you go with quality folding doors they should go back almost to the wall and not take up much room at all, however if you think you will never close them what I would do is go for a design where you could have doors if you wanted them but not actually fit them, meaning you still have the option down the line and so do any prospective buyers.

Try not to worry to much about when it comes to selling the house this event could be years away and while you can't easily put a value on the extra convenience you will have in the meantime I'm sure it would be more than any negative impac on the price.
 
For my 2 up, 2 down terrace I had a quote of 10k last year. That involved knocking out the middle wall and building new stairs against the side of the property (rather than through the middle) I beams to keep the upstairs walls upright. Resiting 4 radiators, Turning the window in the middle room into a door (price of door not included)

Decided against it as its not worth 10k to me. Although the extra natural light would be appreciated.
 
D1ngd0ng said:
For my 2 up, 2 down terrace I had a quote of 10k last year. That involved knocking out the middle wall and building new stairs against the side of the property (rather than through the middle) I beams to keep the upstairs walls upright. Resiting 4 radiators, Turning the window in the middle room into a door (price of door not included)

Decided against it as its not worth 10k to me. Although the extra natural light would be appreciated.
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thanks, that is exactly the work I have in mind
 
My house had been knocked through when we moved in and a big arch there, no doors, but then we'd never use them. Makes it feel bigger, dogs run back and forth. I wouldn't bother with them :)
 
No problem Skidder, the builder said it would have been cheaper but the price of the steel and pre fab stairs was extortionate in his opinion (when compared to only 5 years earlier) Also, it included new plaster for all walls, it was 4 weeks work (so 4 weeks labour) and involved moving possesions into rear 2 rooms (up & down) knocking out walls and building stairs, moving everything to front 2 rooms to knock out other fireplaces and rear wall for new entrance way.

Will end up having bathroom redone and knocked out front room fireplace so I could turn it into the living room (I have 3 seater sofas so need the room) see builder for a quote mid Feb but dont plan on starting the work till May anyway.
 
AHarvey said:
My house had been knocked through when we moved in and a big arch there, no doors, but then we'd never use them. Makes it feel bigger, dogs run back and forth. I wouldn't bother with them :)
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I'd not thought of an arch - that might be just the trick. As the wall is supporting and connects to the outside wall, I'm thinking that some wall would have to be left there for the I-beam to sit on anyway so it makes much more sense - also the natural light idea is a good'un.. I can get a bookcase put in to fill the gap to the chimney breast. Thanks!
 
If the wall which seperates you from your neighbours is single cell (mine is worse luck) then yes the builders will need to build up as far as the ceiling to support the I beam
 
D1ngd0ng said:
If the wall which seperates you from your neighbours is single cell (mine is worse luck) then yes the builders will need to build up as far as the ceiling to support the I beam
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It's a 100 year old house so the walls are quite thick. Fingers crossed everything should be OK!

The whole point of getting more space is so that I can fit a grand piano in the room without having to sit 4 feet away from the TV and to stop the sound bouncing back off the walls of a smaller room and destroying my eardrums. ;)
 
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