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?

For £5k difference it's a no brainer imo. I'd go for it.

Ah this is interesting. We recently sold a house with 4-5 metres of bifold across the back extension. We have just bought a house with a single door to garden.

The bifolds we had in the last house we’re nice in the summer but I have to say I did find them annoying as well. As they were so big, when open, even in the summer mud and grass they as dragged in everywhere. Also we did get a lot of flies and occasional slug! Also because they were all across one wall we couldn’t just open a window when cooking, had to open the door. We tended to mainly use it as a single door most of the time anyway. It did get extremely hot in the summer. Good blinds do help but one of the reasons we sold was that I couldn’t do another summer in it.

We are planning an extension in our new house. Was going to have a single door to the garden because there are a lot of windows and I don’t want to lose anymore wall space. We are on a hill and have beautiful views, so do have a large 'picture' window but can't put doors there instead without building a balcony. Hmm. Didn't occur to me that a lot of people would be put off by lack of French doors. The single door doesn't bother me though.

@CreamArran from this thread, I'd say a lot of people aren't bothered, especially if they like the rest of the house. Your views sound lovely, so I'm sure that alone would be a big selling point, which would overshadow the lack of French doors.

Thing is anyone who loves them can just put them in themselves.

A single door would put me right off the house. That extension is screaming to be opened up.

OP you still havent explained why you have to take trees down? The patio could go around them or you could have bi fold that go in not out? Also what do you think of putting door on the side not the front like a poster has marked?

Our old house only ever had a single door to the back of the house. It was never an issue. Don't get me wrong, I love having patio doors now but it wasn't a reason we bought the house - in fact it was a new build so I don't know that we even registered that it would have patio doors.

In what world do people have multiple doors to their garden?

@Strictlyfanoftenyears we've been advised that the tree roots will ruin the patio later down the line, so to remove them. There's been lots of great suggestions that we're mulling over.

This picture reminds me of my PILs house (although they have a single door on each side). It's fine and not a dealbreaker. The amount of light is more important than the absence / presence of double doors. But given you are presumably spending a lot of money anyway you might as well have it exactly as you want.

I'd love something like that but worry it would be like an oven in the summer as we're south facing. Last year the house was unbearably hot and even in winter can reach 22° with the sun through the patio doors (up north too)
Does having specialist glass help?
Can I be cheeky and ask how much it's costing you?

Could you try a sliding door instead?

Not at all. We've actually just removed two sets of patio doors to the garden in the house we purchased and replaced with single door.

We had patio doors at our old house and never used them.

you can only use 1 door at a time

@Firsttimer144
You will need foundations for the patio if you build over tree roots. They will almost certainly cause issues as the roots grow. Also, if you take trees out, you need to design foundations for that scenario, especially if you are on clay soil. Again, with trees nearby you need deeper foundations for the extension anyway. Have you got all this sorted?

i would never ever build with a single door going into the garden from a living room. Looks awful and cheap. Large French doors or bifolds. Plant new trees away from the house. If they are that close, they are an issue!!

We’ve finally got confirmation of completion this morning. To recap the offer was accepted at the end of June, receiving the keys today. So 6.5 months in total for a chain free transaction. Not moving just yet as we’d like to renovate first, so I feel like the hard part is only starting. Not to mention the emotional charge when I’ll have to leave the current place I live in.
@RM2013 what an emotional rollercoaster you are on! It feels never ending! My thoughts are with you and hopefully things will get resolved soon. Same goes for everyone on this thread.
OP, thank you for not abandoning us and making time to check in despite your own house move.