Patio door costs
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summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
No idea but we got 3 quotes for replacing windows earlier this year. The 2 independent guys were nice and in the house for a total of 10 mins and 30 mins, the bigger name company bloke was in the house for about 2 hours, doing the hard sell, reducing more etc and finally went off in a strop throwing his toys out of the pram because we refused to sign up that day. He wouldn't even leave the scrap of paper with the quote on it. And yet they have rung up every 3 months since to see if we need anything doing. So can I suggest going for the smaller local guys. We found our ones through some Which? recommendation thing.
The only reason we had the big name guy in, in the first place was I felt sorry for the kid doing door to door.
The only reason we had the big name guy in, in the first place was I felt sorry for the kid doing door to door.
annedonnelly
Girl from the North Country
- Location
- Canonbie
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
+1 for the local firm - cheaper, quick survey and measure up and a qoute that was half the price of the 'super discount' that the 'big boys' had. The 'big boys' were also doing the hard sell, sign up now etc, something like 2 hours...couldn't get rid of them.
We had a bay window done for about £1k (5 panels) and a 6 foot arch window(with stained glass) for about £800, plus all the other windows. Total cost was about £3.5k - £4k
We had a bay window done for about £1k (5 panels) and a 6 foot arch window(with stained glass) for about £800, plus all the other windows. Total cost was about £3.5k - £4k
threebikesmcginty
Corn Fed Hick...
- Location
- ...on the slake
At our last house we converted a rear window into a doorway and rather than patio doors we had a local joiners shop make up some timber french windows to our spec. IIRC they cost about £400 - 500 whereas UPVC patio doors would have been nearer a £1000.
meenaghman
Guru
As long as they've got FENSA registration they should be fine. Similar here on a previous house went with a smaller guy who did an excellent job. This was in the early days of FENSA and I'd heard stories of problems with some firms not producing certificates.
Jonathan M
New Member
- Location
- Merseyside
+1 for local firm, we're getting windows & doors done by a local firm, we've lived in the area for 14 years and this company has kept the same small office & showroom, and their vans are always around & about doing jobs.
I also agree with meenaghman about FENSA.
Whatever doors you go for then make sure that the locks are up to insurance standard or higher, and if they are a sliding patio door then some extra locks can be useful. We fitted a "bursa bar" to ours, one bracket goes on the fixed part, one goes on the sliding part, and then a bar with threaded expanders fits into these brackets. It means the door is less likely to be lifted out of the rails, but check with any company what locks & extras they would advise, as drilling holes in a new frame might obviously invalidate a warranty!
I also agree with meenaghman about FENSA.
Whatever doors you go for then make sure that the locks are up to insurance standard or higher, and if they are a sliding patio door then some extra locks can be useful. We fitted a "bursa bar" to ours, one bracket goes on the fixed part, one goes on the sliding part, and then a bar with threaded expanders fits into these brackets. It means the door is less likely to be lifted out of the rails, but check with any company what locks & extras they would advise, as drilling holes in a new frame might obviously invalidate a warranty!
summerdays said:
+1. It was some years ago and on my previous house. But your story is spot on. I got 3 quotes, the 2 local independents were in a completely different price league to the big company. But, the big company would not take no for an answer. It got rather boring, bordering on harassment in the end. I was glad to give the job to a small local company. No complaints.
XmisterIS
Purveyor of fine nonsense
Provided that your patio doors aren't a weird size or a funny shape, you should be able to get 'em made to measure off the internet. £1000 if you fit 'em yourself, £2500 (at least) if you get a company to do it for you (same quality of door in each case!).
Fitting doors and windows is dead easy! I did all my own and saved myself several thousand pounds.
Measure 5mm off the biggest aperture (inner and outer wall skins may have different apertures), cut yourself a good sill when fitting the doors (110-150 mm is standard) - cement it in well and make sure it's flat side to side and front to back. Then it's just a case of putting the new door in the aperture, drilling it into the cavity chocks at both top corners when it's vertical, then drilling down the sides and finish it with a bit of mastic and beading.
Just make sure you get a decent door in the first place - make sure it's got hookbolts and multi-point locking (at least 5 points for a patio door).
It will take you one Saturday to do.
Simples
EDIT: I would recommend using a good hardwood for the sill, don't bother with any of those crappy plastic things! You should be able to get a nice English Oak for about £10/m from a decent timber yard (by "decent" I mean one that doesn't sell kiln-dried stuff --- that's the devil's own timber and will warp and crack like a good'un!).
Fitting doors and windows is dead easy! I did all my own and saved myself several thousand pounds.
Measure 5mm off the biggest aperture (inner and outer wall skins may have different apertures), cut yourself a good sill when fitting the doors (110-150 mm is standard) - cement it in well and make sure it's flat side to side and front to back. Then it's just a case of putting the new door in the aperture, drilling it into the cavity chocks at both top corners when it's vertical, then drilling down the sides and finish it with a bit of mastic and beading.
Just make sure you get a decent door in the first place - make sure it's got hookbolts and multi-point locking (at least 5 points for a patio door).
It will take you one Saturday to do.
Simples
EDIT: I would recommend using a good hardwood for the sill, don't bother with any of those crappy plastic things! You should be able to get a nice English Oak for about £10/m from a decent timber yard (by "decent" I mean one that doesn't sell kiln-dried stuff --- that's the devil's own timber and will warp and crack like a good'un!).
threebikesmcginty
Corn Fed Hick...
- Location
- ...on the slake
XmisterIS said:
That's the wrong way round! - the kiln dried will be less likely to warp than 'green' oak
XmisterIS
Purveyor of fine nonsense
threebikesmcginty said:
I'm refering to the stuff that has been air-dried for a long time (I forgot to mention that!).
Yep, green oak will warp if it is bad quality wood in the first place. I got my door sills from a timber reclamation yard - that way you know you're getting good timber and you're recycling too.
ChrisKH said:Am tempted, but I can't sue myself if it all goes pear shaped.
There's less to go pear-shaped than you would think! It is a case of fitting a rectangular object into a rectangular hole and using sodding big screws to hold it in place. That's pretty much it!
XmisterIS
Purveyor of fine nonsense
Ok, that's understandable.
Firstly, make sure that your aperture is not crooked (careful, Fnarr!).
To do this, hang a plumb down each of the verticals on both the inner and outer skin.
Then chop back any exterior render to the brickwork (use a brick bolster and a hammer). You don't need to chop internal plaster back.
Then take 12 (yes, 12!) measurements, as follows:
Internal skin:
Horizontal at the top, middle and bottom of the aperture (3 measurements).
Vertical at the left, centre and right of the aperture (3 measurements).
Repeat the exercise for the external skin.
Remember to measure brick-to-brick (not the size of the current frame).
Also remember, "measure twice, cut once!". So repeat the whole process (24 measurements!) to make sure you're double-sure.
The size of your external aperture is the smallest width measured x the smallest height measured.
Repeat for the internal aperture.
You may have a larger internal aperture than external (my house certainly does).
The size of frame that you need is as follows:
Height = height of largest aperture - thickness of sill - 5mm.
Width = width of largest aperture - 5mm.
You will extract the old frame and insert the new one via that aperture.
Firstly, make sure that your aperture is not crooked (careful, Fnarr!).
To do this, hang a plumb down each of the verticals on both the inner and outer skin.
Then chop back any exterior render to the brickwork (use a brick bolster and a hammer). You don't need to chop internal plaster back.
Then take 12 (yes, 12!) measurements, as follows:
Internal skin:
Horizontal at the top, middle and bottom of the aperture (3 measurements).
Vertical at the left, centre and right of the aperture (3 measurements).
Repeat the exercise for the external skin.
Remember to measure brick-to-brick (not the size of the current frame).
Also remember, "measure twice, cut once!". So repeat the whole process (24 measurements!) to make sure you're double-sure.
The size of your external aperture is the smallest width measured x the smallest height measured.
Repeat for the internal aperture.
You may have a larger internal aperture than external (my house certainly does).
The size of frame that you need is as follows:
Height = height of largest aperture - thickness of sill - 5mm.
Width = width of largest aperture - 5mm.
You will extract the old frame and insert the new one via that aperture.
