Custom made external door options

[Kelvin]

2 hours ago, Jilly said:

Why not put a second door in the bedroom into the lounge so you (and air)  can freely move through the house? Im sure there must be a door through the hall, but I can't make it out. It would probably be closed when you have guests, but I would be walking between these rooms a lot and it looks a pain to walk all the way round (unless I ve misinterpreted the drawings.

It’s a vaulted ceiling. The living room is on the ground floor. This is the first floor. 

[Kelvin]

3 hours ago, Jilly said:

Why not put a second door in the bedroom into the lounge so you (and air)  can freely move through the house? Im sure there must be a door through the hall, but I can't make it out. It would probably be closed when you have guests, but I would be walking between these rooms a lot and it looks a pain to walk all the way round (unless I ve misinterpreted the drawings.

It’s a vaulted ceiling. The living room is on the ground floor. This is the first floor. 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Kelvin

[Temp]

16 hours ago, Kelvin said:

The door on the left is into a formal hallway and then the house. The door on the right is into the utility room.

 

Delivery drivers will probably go to the wrong door 50% of the time. So you don't want anything outside like trees/hedge/wall that prevents them stepping to sideways when you open the other door? 

[Jilly]

13 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

It’s a vaulted ceiling. The living room is on the ground floor. This is the first floor. 

Ahh, I see!

[Kelvin]

10 minutes ago, Temp said:

 

Delivery drivers will probably go to the wrong door 50% of the time. So you don't want anything outside like trees/hedge/wall that prevents them stepping to sideways when you open the other door? 

Well if I can conceal the door well enough it shouldn’t be an issue with most delivery drivers apart from Evri who will screw it up no matter what

[Adsibob]

I still can’t see why you don’t just put the utility room on one of the corners of the house and have the utility room door on the side of your house. It will save you a lot of trouble and look better. You mentioned a cinema room that you had added, but what about the other corner. Also, if you haven’t started building yet, you could still reconfigure the internal layout quite easily.

[Kelvin]

The other corner is a bedroom. We are using it as an office for now but it’s at the bedroom end of the house where the downstairs bathroom is. The issue is caused by me adding the cinema room. 
 

We like the layout as it is. The easiest way to deal with it is to not have the door at all. Which is what I am most likely to do if I don’t think I can conceal it well enough. 
 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Kelvin

[Alan Ambrose]

I’m surprised that your architect is making a fuss about this - especially for a clad house, which makes the solution v. easy as you’ve shown. Just make the main door more prominent and the dog door more blended in. For the dog door one or more of: clad it /  match window profile / diminished door furniture etc. Highlight the main door with one or two of: lights either side / pots either side / doorbell / knocker / more prominent features or finishes / external door mat / highlight the paving and/or planting. Essentially you’re just trying, for visitors, to make one look more likely to be the main door than the other. You can call this ‘affordance’ or ‘design cue’  and then you can (a) charge yourself twice as much and (b) encourage your architect to get a grip. If you want to be cute, you can even impose an outline of a dog or something else doggy somewhere on/near the dog door.

 

I would also find some more suitable I.e. paw and claw resistant surface materials for the dog room so it doesn’t deteriorate so fast. Plastic / metal sheathing / coir maybe. I don’t have a dog, so dog resistant materials are not something I’ve thought much about.

 

Alan

 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Alan Ambrose

[Kelvin]

Closing this off. 
 

Try as I might I couldn’t get anyone to quote on building a suitable door. Tried four different places. In the end I’ve ditched the idea and will have a dog washing bath thing in the garage beside all the plant for the borehole. In addition we’ll have an outside washing area for quick dog feet washing off.