rmillener

Hi All, We have knocked an internal wall down to create a single kitchen / diner from two original rooms. Now the rooms are plastered and we are ready to start the kitchen installation it is clear that the original concrete floors are anything but level! There are two main issues: 1) Where the removed wall used to sit, the concrete floor has been screeded up to the old wall, and now it is removed it has left quite an obvious ridge on both sides. 2) There are a number of quite big "dips" in the main part of the floors where the level can be as much as 30-50mm below a baseline zero. There are also substantial high points at the edge of all the walls, for the same reason as in Point 1. I have tried to get hold of a few flooring contractors to come out and have a look, but I am struggling to find interested parties and I am getting towards thinking about sorting this myself for speed and simplicity. I am sure the floor is definitely not OK to leave as it is as it will be very obvious when the Karndean (or similar) is laid that it will be all over the place, plus it would really annoy me! I know self levelling epoxy exists for floors that are out of level up to extreme measures, but when you start pricing it up to fill a 50mm dip it starts getting expensive! Are there any rougher and cheaper initial treatments to put down before getting a professional in to put a final thin layer of self levelling epoxy to give a properly flat finish for the flooring installation itself? I am thinking like some kind of rougher concrete screeding which just gives me a good base to work from. I feel the initial job is hopefully something I can achieve but just want to know which product is recommended. Finally, it is likely it would be a few weeks / months before we fit the actual flooring so the temporary finish needs to allow for normal everyday foot traffic on it once set, and with some areas only needing a very small skim I would be concerned it might just break off? Thoughts and advice welcome! A couple of pictures are attached. The yellow highlighting shows the worst areas for the ridging up against the old walls (also the same where the new sliders have been installed instead of the wall. The red circles show the particularly bad dips in the floor. Thanks Rich

Hi All, I have bought a set of 4.3m sliding doors, a set of 2.3m sliding doors, a new composite front and a composite back door. I have ordered all of these from companies direct and therefore only require fitting. I know that asking for people to fit doors only can sometimes cause their noses to be turned up as they are only making the fitting money and not their cut on the products as well. I have found a local fitter who has quoted £2000 plus VAT. What do people think to that price? Personally I think it seems a little steep? I know the front and rear doors are relatively easy to fit... the big sliders will take some fitting, but the rest is nothing too out of the ordinary. When the guy came to do a survey he thought he could fit them all in a day, so based on that, even if there was four of them for 8 hours that's still £62.50 per hour, and when compared to the other tradesman charging £30-40 per hour it seems expensive. My partners dad is a retired joiner so we were also considering fitting ourselves. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks Rich

Hi All, Views on what coatings external leaf structural beams should have? Am I right in saying there is no specific building regulation for the coating requirements for beams that will be sitting on external cavity walls to allow an opening for sliding doors? I have been recommended to galvanise them, would this be the consensus of others? Or do I paint them in a coating instead which might be more cost effective. Thoughts please? Thanks Rich

On this occasion it is age... single pane glass, holes in the frame where the previous owner drilled holes in them to pass wires through 🙄 and non-existent seals. So just needs brought into the 21st century. I did consider solid timber, with my partners dad being a retired joiner, but I already have him booked up with other work so I think I will go composite 😁

All, Am fitting new front and rear doors as the current ones are plain awful, old wooden ones - warmer outside than inside half the time. The question is would you add a sill to these doors? They are both very well protected. I would be tempted not to and just have a 55mm threshold to give the best seal. I will also be removing the tiles on the front door and re-tiling. The back door step may also be tiled in the future too. To add a sill would be 180mm sill on the front and 150mm for the rear. My understanding is the main aim of the sill is to drain rainwater away but both don't get any rain due to them being so sheltered. Thanks Rich

With a 3 pane design, the max width of each pane will be around 1.3m so I think the weight for the individual panels should be OK, but we will need to take care in terms of the supporting wall underneath to ensure it is solid, especially if the door is positioned over the edge of the outer external cavity wall to ensure there is no warping here. As this is a new opening there is some scope to alter the width slightly, but as everything seems to be bespoke made these days I don't think there is any advantage to this. Agreed on the makes, thanks for this!

Structual calculations show a 1.4mm deflection over the span. Will be two beams, one on each wall of the cavity wall. The beam recommended is UKB 305x127x42 in S275 material. Therefore I think that this should be OK on this particlaur concern, but also something I had considered when choosing sliding over bifold.

Hi All, New here, but looks like a lot of good info.... I am renovating a house built in 1995 and installing some 4.3m wide x 2m tall sliding doors for the newly opened up kitchen. It seems that finding the best doors is a minefield and I could lose many nights at the computer... Every company I am recommended seems to have its fair share of good and bad reviews! I am currently looking and favoured towards the Origin Global OS-29 doors in a 3 pane, 3 track configuration, with all panes possible to slide, this seems to be a good mid-range level door. I went to have a look in a showroom and they seem solid with a good quality feel and look. Does anyone else have them installed and would agree or have feedback? As for colour I don't know, I like light grey, but my partner is concerned all the other house windows are white and this would upset the look, but I think white makes them look like big PVC doors?! Also I would like to know what are people's thoughts on how they choose things like doors and windows? Are all medium level doors about the same in terms of quality and it comes down to personal preference / service of the installer in the end?! Would anyone have some rough prices for what has been paid now in early 2023 for this size door from any manufacturers? All other research I have done are posts from 2020-2021 which have prices that are completely irrelevant these days! I am expecting around £10k for this size Origin door, would that seem about right? Must be triple glazed now due to Building Regs change as well I believe. Thanks Rich

Hi All, New to the forum and just started work on renovating a property that was built in 1995, in West Cumbria. The property is in good order and was an upsize for me and my young family. We are undertaking medium size work, reworking the floor layouts mainly, but also installing some large sliding doors and a new staircase as well as upstairs wall movements, with the luxury of everything upstairs being stud walled. Will also be building a brand new large garage and trying to improve the insulation of the existing house to make it more efficent. I am trying to do as much as possible myself to learn new skills, and with my partners dad a retired joiner, it helps.... ! But I will not be able to do it all. Stumbled across the forum whilst doing some research on various parts of the renovation and it looks a great source of information. I would like to have the majority of work completed in the next 18 months, but I am quickly learning everything takes time, and working full time in motorsport it means I am often out of the country! Look forward to getting into the forum discussions! Thanks Rich