Have you ever moved a door way?

[whoami24601]

How much did it cost? We're looking at moving our doorway into the kitchen (and possibly widening it) to give us more usable space in the kitchen. Just trying to get a rough idea of how much it'll be. It's a supporting wall I think so think that will increase the price. Thanks!

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we did - but many many years ago so couldn't give you a cost (so not sure this will help )

Our terraced house doesn't have a through hall, & access from the back room into the kitchen was through a door just in front of the understairs cupboard door & then round the corner. As the kitchen also had a door in the furthest corner, into an attached garage, & another door at the other nearer corner out to the back yard, it had way too many doors!

We now have a wide (too wide, meant to get doors, never did ) opening straight into the kitchen; the understairs cupboard is now larger by what was the space we went into the kitchen through; what was the door into the kitchen is now the door into the larger understairs cupboard; the door to the back yard was bricked up & what was the window in the back room overlooking the yard is now french windows. Garage was demolished & that corner also bricked up.

It works pretty well in the kitchen as all 4 corners are now available for cupboards. I know some local houses with similar set-up have french windows at far end of kitchen, instead of cupboards across, & I would quite like that too.

It was a messy job, & required a RSJ across the too-wide opening, but we were having other work done at the same time, so a) the mess was relatively insignificant & b) I don't know what the cost was.

Could post pics if it would help with visualising (if it's anything like your set-up)

Ours is just moving a doorway further along the wall it's already on! We have a tiny kitchen, and the door is in a corner which limits the amount of cupboards we can fit in (and means the fridge has to be in the dining room!) We're wanting to move it to the middle so we can have a U shaped kitchen instead of L shaped

What’s on the other side of where you want the door to go? (We had a radiator)

We’ve moved several over the years, the most recent so I could get the kitchen design I wanted! Cost will depend on what’s involved. What is the wall made of? Block or stud work? What’s on the other side? Are there any cables running or pipes running through the wall? Will you need to move light switches etc? Can you reuse the door frame and architraves? Is the wall where the doorway is located load bearing? I would suggest first step would be to pay for an engineer to have a look at what you want done and go from there. Sounds very simple and may be very straightforward, but it might not be!

I don't know the answer to a lot of those questions! There's nothing on either side of the wall currently. There is one light switch which might need moving. How do I know if there are pipes/ electric cables in there? I hadn't even considered that! Xx

It is very confusing. That’s why I suggested you get an engineer in to have a look and discuss the options with you. If for instance you live in a bungalow, there are no pipes or cables set in the wall, it is solid rather than studwork and non load bearing the process is fairly simple. The builder would remove the existing skirting boards on either side of the wall, remove the door and architraves and frame, remove the plaster from the existing wall and mark the new doorway. A lintel would need to be put in place and the new doorway cut then everything put back in reverse order. If the wall is load bearing then the process is similar but more difficult as props have to be put in place to stop what’s above collapsing before work commences. Definitely not a diy job unless experienced.

Ours was bungalow and fairly straightforward so electrics and plumbing needed to be moved. I imagine all in cost once completed was around £1000. Can’t be accurate as done as part of other building works. Hope this helps.