Would a single door to garden put you off purchase?

[Firsttimer144]

Hi!

We are currently building an extension at the back of our house. It will create an open plan kitchen and dining room. However, we are losing our patio doors and, with the current plans, the patio doors will be replaced with a single external door.

If we were to put patio doors/bifolds in, we'd have to remove two trees and extend our garden patio at the cost approx £5k.

I think a family home benefits from a large exit to the garden, but DH and FIL don't believe it's worth the additional cost.

Would a single external door to the garden put you off purchasing a home? What would you do in my case?

Do you have a side access to the garden?

We have a passageway running from the front of the house to the back garden.

Which part of the house will the door lead from? Will you have lots of windows for light?

I can only picture those sorts of open plan rooms with big doors and lots of light but I think if there was plenty of light the single door wouldn’t bother me

Yes, a mistake in my opinion. Can your plans be tweaked?

Not always but it sounds like your extension is making the back of your home a potential entertaining space for a future buyer and then I do think that patio doors would allow for a better inside-outside flow

Do you have rear windows? Is it something you can do in the future?
Can you do French doors as a cheap option?

Decent access to the garden would be a big tick for me. I love cooking and entertaining with the french windows open. How much is the 5k as a proportion of the build?

I'd spend the money to put bifolds in. Opening the house up to the garden in summer is so pleasant.
It would put me off a house which didn't have that

Wouldn’t bother me, in fact I’ve been considering replacing patio doors with a single door.

@Daytripp there will be floor to ceiling windows and a lantern, so plenty of light.

The door will lead from the dining area which is adjacent to the kitchen. It will be facing onto an existing part of the patio ( the bit that wasn't removed in order for us to extend).

Would be a massive turn off for me

Is your house in the town or countryside? Personally I hate bifolds because we're in the country and there are always so many flies around that I prefer a single door with a fly screen.

If there are floor to ceiling windows why can’t they be French doors?

I think it depends on the house and price point, tbh.

In a cheaper house, you normally have to make sacrifices like this. Similarly, in older/quirkier houses this may also be the case.

If I were buying an otherwise modern and relatively high spec house, I would not be happy with a single door out.

@kissthegirlshesnotbehindthedoor they can, but the only option is to remove the trees and extend the patio. I know the norm is to have french doors etc to the garden - I'd hate to put future buyers off.

I think it's worth the extra £5k and actually I'd be looking pointedly at whoever designed it that way in the first place.

Your lovely new extension will feel claustrophobic in July with no lovely open space to the garden.

I'd hate not to have large open access to the garden and I think people do expect that. It's not that they would add 5k onto the value of the property it's more that your pool of buyers will be small with such a turn off.

I'd have to see it, but I don't think it would be a total dealbreaker for me. I've got patio doors and the flies do piss me off in summer. As long as it had a nice outlook for the 50 weeks of the year when we're not out in the garden all day, and was otherwise well laid out then it wouldn't put me off.

Can you do a diagram?
For me it very much depends on the windows and the design. A single white PVC door - no. But I recall some lovely 1930s houses with a central door and beautiful huge decorative windows either side - that wouldn't put me off at all.

@Baxdream I'm happy to have French doors. I did think it might be worth putting in larger doors and the single door, in the hope that one day we could build the patio.

I wouldn't what doors you put in, but for me I'd definitely want that large open view to the garden. A single glass door is selling the project well short. It'd be a huge disappointment on viewing the house. However if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. Could you put a large opening in in the future?

Is the issue that the space outside the current extension isn't a patio? What is it - lawn? You don't really want people traipsing mud into the house, and you need space to put on shoes/boots (unless the whole ground floor is a 'shoes on' area) but if you're tiling or laying a hard floor already then spending an extra £5k seems a small addition. What about heating - where are the radiators?

Sorry that should be, I wouldn't care what type of door, ie bifold or French

Agree depends on the type/ price point of your property? If it’s not a budget property then yes I think it will effect the desirability. Can you not put French doors anywhere?

Also if the trees are that close to the property won’t they have the potential to
undermine the foundations? Possibly you may get away with a single glass door with a fixed window next to it? Not that different to a patio door. I don’t think you necessarily need the expense of bifold doors.