"Through Lounge"

[Narj]

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...

 

[Narj]

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.

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).

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.

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.

I wouldn't bother with the doors - if you do knock it through I can garuntee you'll never close them.

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.

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.

 

[Narj]

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

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!

 

[Narj]

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

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.