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Our builder is quoting an extensive remodel. There are two doors we a

10 years ago

Our builder is quoting an extensive remodel. There are two doors we are looking at for back yard; one off den and other master. He insists that sliding glass doors are the way to go for security purposes. I personally can't stand them. French doors the only way. Opinions??

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saratogaswizzlestick

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

I think French doors are more secure than sliders and more attractive to boot.

http://www.heckardsdoor.com/blog/bid/283752/4-Reasons-to-Replace-Sliding-Glass-Doors-with-French-Doors

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Comments (11)

mcbmd3
10 years ago
Get what you want. Is crime a huge issue in your neighborhood? Follow your instincts. You can always add an alarm system.
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Fire doors are more expensive than ordinary doors. A lot more. They must be fitted to a standard and properly sealed in order to prevent a fire spreading. Hence there is a lot more work involved which adds further to the costs. Buying your own doors would not make a significant difference to the overall cost. It would also be sensible to ask the builders prior to purchase whether they would be prepared to offer the same workmanship guarantee on materials they could not vouch for. I certainly would not allow my company to, although we do not deal in internal structures so fire doors are unlikely ever to become an issue for us. What are you basing your assumption that the design changes should reduce costs upon? Certainly not the doors, as explained above. If the loft conversion is the only other factor, how have you factored in the materials changes and are you qualified to assess the amount of labour or skills required to do each job? "It looks smaller/easier/squarer/flatter so it must be cheaper" is not a valid assessment, nor is it likely to be an accurate one. Your builder has been recommended and offered what you considered to be a reasonable price to your initial briefing. It is at best questionable that they are likely to suddenly switch MO and try to rip you off. It is far more likely that there are sound reasons for the price increase. You are, of course, quite entitled to seek alternative quotes for the work prior to accepting any one offer. However, a polite chat with the builders in question will probably satisfy all of your misgivings, although unlikely to result in a price reduction.
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Ok, so I've never commented on Houzz before (despite being a huge reader) but the shape of your house really intrigued me as it's very charming but quite tricky. Looking at just the ground floor, I think that an extension that fills in the 'rectangle' floorpan of the whole house might work. The loo and shower should be moved so that they are not blocking off movement flowing through the ground floor. To get a bigger hallway you could move back the wall currently going into the kitchen, so that you incorporate the small window into the hall. Remove the wall by the stairs and turn the stairway itself into a feature which would make the hallway - and stairs themselves - feel much roomier (I can't see from your floorpan whether they are already open to the hallway). What's currently the kitchen could become a utility with downstairs loo (move the shower upstairs into new bathroom over new extension, taking a bit from bedroom 1?). I have recently had an extension kitchen built on our own house and turned the old (tiny) kitchen into a laundry/boot room - best decision ever with a growing family! In the utility room you could put in a stacked wash/tumbler (if you want a tumbler, or else just cupboards/laundry on top) and a downstairs loo, as well as more storage. In the new kitchen, you could have double/french/sliding/bifold doors as per your taste looking out SE into the garden, creating a long sightline - and feeling of space - from the garden right through the kitchen into the far room. This would create a spacious-feeling kitchen tied into the rest of the house. You could block up the door into the current dining room and take out the wall between the dining/living. Keeping the dining room as dining, this gives you a cosy room there for small intimate dinners but also the potential to have big dinner parties on a long extended table stretching out into the living room. When not entertaining, that slightly self-contained room (as it's not a through-route as is the rest of the house) could be used as a study/quieter reading room. You now have a house that is welcoming for entertaining - guests come through the front door, where there's space for coats/hatstands, straight through the open door into the living room and are greeted by the fireplace ahead of them, and look round to see the dining table. Downstairs loo for guests nicely separated from all the action. Please excuse my very rough sketch of what I mean, and its lack of scale!
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Hi Gus, we are mid side return build currently and had exactly your dilemma last year when we were talking about the work we wanted to do. Ultimately we figured it came down to whether we were willing to pay to avoid the project management & associated stress! So we had a number of ‘design & build’ companies come to visit, talk over and quote for the work, in addition to working out costs of managing the various components separately. After breaking down all the moving parts (architect, structural engineer, party wall surveyor, planning application, builder, plumber, electrician, plasterer, tiler, building control, drainage, tree survey - off the top of my head!) we opted to go with a D&B (project management) company to carry out & coordinate everything for us. Our reasoning included: they have experience, can anticipate things we probably wouldn’t even consider or know about, have access to all the trades, can put a team together which suited our timeline, can coordinate all the trades (and know when to!) at the relevant times, they do it full time (rather than us working at the same time), etc... So in short, it boils down to whether you want to pay for someone to take care of things for you! After we did a number of the elements for our wedding and wishing after the fact we’d just paid to not have to deal with it - we took that on board for this somewhat larger project and went with a D&B company. So far so good.... fingers crossed it remains this way!
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Lesley Delle_Grazie
10 years ago
If someone really wants to break into your house, it won't matter what kind of doors you have, or security system, or even visible video cameras. They will either break the glass, or kick in the door, or failing that, break a window and crawl through.
User
10 years ago
French. Definitely. There are ways to add extra security to French doors as well, and some are built better than others to begin with.
User
10 years ago
I agree with Lesley. I live in a very "safe" neighborhood, and about six months ago we had a string of breakins. One of my neighbors experienced a Mission Impossible break in where they came in through the skylight. It was the only window not on the alarm system. Go for looks. Glass won't deter anyone determined to get in,
lefty47
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
HI - Slider patio doors are not anymore secure . They are usually the second choice of entry for a burglary , the first being attached garage house entrance . The French doors are a better choice with a good deadbolt lock on the active door and the dummy door has bolts that go into the door frame top and bottom. There are also other locking systems for French doors . Check with a good locksmith shop in your area and they can get you what you need and even install it. But if you have something a thief wants they are going to find a way to get in no matter . Our family business is Locksmith /security . Look into a monitored security system (pre-entry) and or even add the stickers that say you have one . They usually won't take the chance and will move on to the next house . There is no such thing as a safe neighborhood !!
hayleydaniels
10 years ago
My husband refuses to put in French doors as he says they're very easy to break into. When I asked him why he was so sure about this, he told me that he needed to gain entry to a house on a house fire he was on [he's a firefighter] where there was a French door. I assume it had small panels so not wanting to destroy the door, he figured he could knock out a panel reach in and unlock the door. This was just with his hand, no fire ax or anything, and when he did that, both doors flew open! He says that if a firefighter can break in, a thief will have no trouble doing so. I think this was an average home in an average neighbor--the kind we live in.

Strangely enough, he says [and I believe him as he knows these things] that our sliding glass door is harder to break the lock on than a French door. Plus, a lot of thieves don't want the noise of shattering a sliding glass door that will alert the homeowner and close neighbors that something is going on.
lefty47
10 years ago
HI -- Sometimes the panels of a sliding door can just be lifted out easy . That's because they are usually cheap or old style and haven't been installed properly . The French doors that the firefighter got into were probably cheaper ones or older and the hardware not installed properly . My Locksmith husband sees it all the time . Like I said -- if anyone wants to get in bad enough , they will get in. Point of interest --- there is a chance that 4 out of 5 neighbors house keys will work on your house locks . More so in a newer district because the houses are keyed the same to allow easy access for the trades to enter during the building process . And most home owners never get the locks re-coded when they move in .
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Susan Berry Design, Inc.
10 years ago
In Florida, sometimes the Builders recommend against French doors in an area that isn't completely covered from the rain because they are prone to rotting out in a few years. I am not sure where you are or where the doors are located. If the doors are in an area prone to a lot of water or moisture, he might be just be saying "security." There are sliding glass doors available that look like French doors. If someone wants to break in, they will find a way.
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Bulldog Protection
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Take a look at some of our past projects, we specialize in security doors and windows for both external and internal issue. All our doors and windows are custom made and we can help assist you with on the level of security you require. Also all our external doors are made from electro-galvanized steel then powder coated, we have also manufactured our products in stainless steel. Our door finish comes in a range of materials, water proofing is not a problem. Our doors were tested in an independant laboratory in Germany. The testers continuously tried to break down the door for 77 minutes before giving up, They tried crowbars, hammers, sledge-hammers, cutting tools and drilling tools.
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Bulldog Protection
10 years ago
These were fitted in London where it tends to rain alot.

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