Ok. The doors that go the back yard are French doors. I hate them. They are not secure. They waste valuable kitchen space. And we literally never use them.


I began to wonder how much of an undertaking it would be to take out one of the french doors, leaving the one on the right. I could then extend the counter over another 2-3 feet and add some cabinets in what is a smallish kitchen.

Anyone ever done this before? The exterior is brick. Here's some pics. The french door on the left is the one I would like to remove and turn into a wall.









And while I'm at it... There is an awkward column right in the middle of our kitchen/dining area. The entrance on the right used to be a door to a one car garage that was converted into more living space. I am not sure if the column is load bearing or not. I would like to remove it also. Anyone have any experience with this?

Its almost certainly load bearing. Im assuming based on beam its supporting. That could be removed, but it will require proper load transfer. As for your doors. Id frame it out and put in a single exterior door and do it right. I have french doors in my house and loathe them. We use them, but they are leaky, weak, warpy...in fact the only thing they have going for them is being double paned.....but again...leaky...so doesnt matter.

Hopefully some home building dudes will show up and give you actual worthwhile info though. Thats my .01.

We have French doors to the patio and I too hate them! The opening door doesn't meet or seal properly, the stationary side is worthless...if ever given the opportunity I would vote for sliding door that has the panel look to it so you don't waste the swing space.

To your door issue, yes take out the left side and increase your counter space with an addition...or maybe a peninsula? The home shows I have seen that dealt with the column had to run a laminated header to support the above space whether it was just attic/roof or a separate floor.

Bump...

The french door is easy. Remove door. Frame wall to fit regular door. Install regular door. Sheetrock and finish new wall.....

The other could be fixed. There are probaly two seperate headers for the two openings. It would involve removing those and replacing with one larger header and then hanging the existing beam the two columns are holding off of new header.

What about the exterior of the house? It's brick.

You can fur the wall out and finish with siding or try to match existing brick and mortar.

quote:

---

You can fur the wall out and finish with siding or try to match existing brick and mortar.

---

Correct. Cheapest way would be the siding. would not neccesarily have to fur out the wall though.

Anyone have a quick estimate on how much this would cost?

I am quite novice, but my father-in-law has some skill and know how, is this something we could do in possibly a day?

Here's the exterior.

Take the door out in a day? Sure.

Finalize the whole project in a day? No. I think it would be a bit hard to match the brick without having to cut out some of the bricks at the top/side and match the patterns.

Then the countertops/cabinets. Going to custom build one or try to find the style you have and order another section?

I can hang drywall, but getting the texture of the wall to match is an art, at least to me.

Then the backsplash in the kitchen will have to be matched as well.

All of this cannot be done in a day, unless you had 4+ guys lined up, with materials, ready to go. One waiting on the other do to work.

~egon

Take out french doors and put a door in with a sidelite so you don't have to worry about framing in anything or matching exterior finishes.

Dr. Doctor...


I botched that post. I was meaning just doing the door project in a day.


I definitely don't believe I could do this whole project in a day. The counters and cabinets would probably be left to the professionals.

quote:

---

Take out french doors and put a door in with a sidelite so you don't have to worry about framing in anything or matching exterior finishes.

---

You missed the part where the whole reason for removing the door was to add storage and counter space.

Since your brick is a pretty good mix of every brick color I've ever seen, you may have good luck in filling in with brick and making it match. Matching the grout would be tougher.

You should be able to demo the door, frame the new opening, set your new door and make the assembly weather tight in a day. Then you can worry about interior finishes, cabinetry and the exterior when you have time.

Yea door removed replaced, siding installed in a day no problem. Just thinking ahead I would use hardi siding or some such. Thinking resale, there are idiots that looovvvee the french doors and that would make it easier for the doors to be reinstalled. Taking door out makes total since to me but I've certainly put in more french doors than taken out in the past.

I think builders and masons can always find brick to match. Since yours are so random I would think it would be easier. I had a stone/mason guy come out and just happen to know what kind of brick mine was and where some "extras" were and he got them for me.

If you are going to move it down to one door, I would say you HAVE to do brick on the outside or a large door shaped area of siding will look really bad on the outside.

The counter space is a great idea.

Thanks, I have had many many ideas to improve this house, but this is the first one that seems legit and is feasible.


I certainly wouldn't be putting french doors back in if I go through with this whole project.



I emailed a retired builder I know, and he was a bit discouraging about it. He figured that matching the brick would be extremely difficult, and that matching the cabinets would be extremely difficult also. He also said that we would probably end up needing to redo all the counters in the process of making them look decent. He estimated that after all that, it would spiral into a $12K-$15K type of job. That is outrageously more than I want to spend.


He actually suggested getting a custom "buffet" piece of furniture to put in there and that way if/when we sell it, if people like the french doors, you can remove the buffet, if they don't, leave it there.


Thanks for all of the input.






So, probably would cost less that $1K to JUST get rid of the french doors, brick it, and drywall the interior?

I was thinking you were doing a cabinet / counter replacement....
No reason to get rid of French door til you renovate the kitchen, IMO.

I'm with dubi on this one...if you aren't going to redo the counters and cabinets then don't worry about the doors just move a free standing buffet up against the door. Turn the buffet so the back side is facing kitchen and paint to match cabinets or use chalkboard paint if you have little kids...that makes the door front of buffet look more like furniture into the eating area. Cheap reno of area for price of used buffet, adds counter/serving/storage and blocks unused door...win/win!

I'm leaning towards the buffet piece now!



This is a house I could see us selling in a couple of years anyway... or less. Probably isn't worth sinking all kinds of cash into a major reno.

Yeah... I am at peace with the column being there.


Getting a peninsula or buffet/island built specifically for that space will make that area flow better and the column won't be as annoying. We had a table in the area that I moved to take the pictures... that column created some tight walking areas that have always annoyed me.

Do you have any pics of the rest of the kitchen?

If it were me, I would extend the counter to the column and open up the wall above it where the pass-through is and leave the door opening alone. It would give you that peninsula, open the space up more, and provide more cabinet space below. You would lose some upper cabinet space, but it would probably be cheaper than trying to frame and brick up half of the doorway.

Here's the whole kitchen, Ryan.