Risk taken or mis-taken
“Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you
will be wise.” — Anonymous
You've probably got two questions from that.
1. What risk are we talking about here?
2. Are you now happy or wise?
To answer number 1, if we ignore for a minute that signing an offer on the house after seeing it for only 20 minutes was already a huge risk... then we come to the biggest risk of the rennovation works. Sliding doors.
For number 2, you'll just have to keep on reading.
When we first discussed the future kitchen, there was something we immediately both saw. Wouldn't it be awesome if, instead of looking out this awkward window to the garden, we could just slide a door open and walk out?
It was a beautiful dream. But then we started to cost it.
The main problem was that the old patio was actually 35 cm above the level of the ground in the kitchen-to-be. So there was no way of doing a door, without redoing, and lowering, the patio. That in itself would cost a fortune. Then we'd have to knock out the bottom of the wall. Then we could put our sliding door. That is if we were actually allowed to, and if knocking that bottom of the wall didn't cause structural issues. In the meantime we'd probably spend months with a big open hole in our wall which screamed "Please come in and squat".
So we dropped it.
Then we took it up again. It was one of those thing that, if we didn't do it now, we'd never do it. Plus the patio was a dilapidated mess which needed to be redone anyhow. So could we solve the problems, minimse the risk and find the budget?
The first two problems - whether we were allowed to, and whether it causes structural issues - turned out to be interlinked. After talking with the authorities we found out there's a bizarre exception in planning permission law here which say you can change your window bays as long as (1) it doesn't affect the structure of the building and (2) it's not visible from a public space. So basically this means you can normally make a window lower than before, but not higher or wider*. Perfect for us. Double check with an engineer this is ok and we don't have a bizzare inverted lintel or similar, and problem numbers one and two are off the list.
For the third problem - security and squatters - the conclusion was we leave the old wall and patio up as long as possible and the windows get made based on the projected measurements for the future, yet to be constructed door bay. What could possibly go wrong? :-D
As for problem number 4 - how did we find the budget - lets just say that a combination of some tough negotiating; spending our holidays loading skips this year instead of paying people to do it; and selling all that scrap metal, we just scraped together enough to pull it off.
We finally got the order passed in late April. The patio was redone and prepped at the beginning of July. Last Friday was the day they came to fit the door into a space that did not exist when they had come to measure for it.
How did it go?
Happy.
You've probably got two questions from that.
1. What risk are we talking about here?
2. Are you now happy or wise?
To answer number 1, if we ignore for a minute that signing an offer on the house after seeing it for only 20 minutes was already a huge risk... then we come to the biggest risk of the rennovation works. Sliding doors.
For number 2, you'll just have to keep on reading.
When we first discussed the future kitchen, there was something we immediately both saw. Wouldn't it be awesome if, instead of looking out this awkward window to the garden, we could just slide a door open and walk out?
 |
| Open me up! |
It was a beautiful dream. But then we started to cost it.
The main problem was that the old patio was actually 35 cm above the level of the ground in the kitchen-to-be. So there was no way of doing a door, without redoing, and lowering, the patio. That in itself would cost a fortune. Then we'd have to knock out the bottom of the wall. Then we could put our sliding door. That is if we were actually allowed to, and if knocking that bottom of the wall didn't cause structural issues. In the meantime we'd probably spend months with a big open hole in our wall which screamed "Please come in and squat".
 |
| Looks a long way off, and a lot darker, here. |
So we dropped it.
Then we took it up again. It was one of those thing that, if we didn't do it now, we'd never do it. Plus the patio was a dilapidated mess which needed to be redone anyhow. So could we solve the problems, minimse the risk and find the budget?
 |
| This patio. And this thorn tree covered mess of a poorly constructed lean to. OMG it feels so long ago now! |
The first two problems - whether we were allowed to, and whether it causes structural issues - turned out to be interlinked. After talking with the authorities we found out there's a bizarre exception in planning permission law here which say you can change your window bays as long as (1) it doesn't affect the structure of the building and (2) it's not visible from a public space. So basically this means you can normally make a window lower than before, but not higher or wider*. Perfect for us. Double check with an engineer this is ok and we don't have a bizzare inverted lintel or similar, and problem numbers one and two are off the list.
For the third problem - security and squatters - the conclusion was we leave the old wall and patio up as long as possible and the windows get made based on the projected measurements for the future, yet to be constructed door bay. What could possibly go wrong? :-D
As for problem number 4 - how did we find the budget - lets just say that a combination of some tough negotiating; spending our holidays loading skips this year instead of paying people to do it; and selling all that scrap metal, we just scraped together enough to pull it off.
 |
| Oops I did it again! (yes, 2 more days, 18m3 or 5+ tonnes more of waste. With a little help from friends and family) |
We finally got the order passed in late April. The patio was redone and prepped at the beginning of July. Last Friday was the day they came to fit the door into a space that did not exist when they had come to measure for it.
How did it go?
 |
| How's it going Mr Window? |
 |
| Ooh! |
 |
| OOH! |
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