Doors doors and more doors

[Selfbuildsarah]

Hi all

I have a bit of a door dilema! Any advice, pearls of wisdom welcome!

The dining room has 4 doors as you can see. Not entirely comfortable with that, particularly as they are different styles,  but it is what it is.

Double glass, etched doors from the hall, white French windows out over a decked area and probably 2 'standard doors into the TV room and kitchen, probably white.

I would like to make the doorway slightly bigger into the kitchen and leave the space open but OH wants to be able to close it off. I thought a pocket door would be the best compromise but not sure if this is possible with SIPS. I also wondered about those large hanging doors which slide across (barn style??) 

Any suggestions? Thank you

[Mr Punter]

Pocket doors work best with plasterboard stud walls, as that is normally how the pocket is constructed.  I am not a huge fan as they are fiddly to install and to open and close but they could work well here.  Make the opening as wide as you can because the door leaf does not normally go back flush with the lining.

 

Have you considered sliding doors from the dining room to decking?  You could have them part in the middle with a nice wide opening.  They don't flap around like French doors and you can adjust for ventilation.

[Selfbuildsarah]

@Mr Punter why do you favour sliding doors over French? Really interested to hear. I've always wanted white French doors/windows, with lots of green plants and palms ? I hadn't even considered sliding doors. Completely rejected bifolds for a few reasons, one being that the room faces North and it's very breezy out there, so I don't think we will want to open up fully much even if we get a good summer! Will have a think re your idea. Will they be heavy to slide. I am a bit small and feeble!!

[Mr Punter]

Lift and slide doors seal really well and are very light to operate.

[AndrewFitton]

We’ve got two sets of french doors, one with three glass panels either side one off the living room and they have to be hooked open. If a sliding for can be fitted without a load of complex ironmongery and that looks okay I’d do that if I had My time again although I don’t know how you’d do it with glass walls as we have.

I won’t have bifolders  - the family room had them in the plans and we binned the idea after seeing the contents of a garden ( dusty soil, leaves, many flies) get blown into a house elsewhere.