Remove sliding door from the Extension to the conservatory. Can I?

[Jonny Vee]

As Title, Can I remove the sliding door from the extension to the conservatory? These are 2 fully enclosed room and does not make any sense to have a door in the middle.

Can I just remove it?

 

[Tigercubrider]

There are regs to do with retaining the external door between the house and the conservatory. Nothing to stop you removing it but selling would be complicated a bit. Quite likely to be a bit cold as well

 

[Jonny Vee]

There are regs to do with retaining the external door between the house and the conservatory. Nothing to stop you removing it but selling would be complicated a bit. Quite likely to be a bit cold as well

Could you please point me to the build reg as I was not able to find it. Could you also advise why would be difficult to re-sale because there is no door to another fully enclosed room.

 

[Tigercubrider]

CONSERVATORY DOORS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Most conservatories are exempt from most parts of the Building Regulations provided they keep the external grade separating doors. Should you wish to renew the doors with newer ones, then the doors have to comply with part L of the Building Regulations even though the conservatory doesn’t. A FENSA or CERTASS registered window and door installer (most respected installers have these accreditations) will help you with this.

If you decide you don’t want a door between the conservatory and your home, a full Building Regulation application is needed – the total building needs to comply. You may need to upgrade the insulation in the rest of the home to offset the heat loss through the conservatory, so the new home and structure are no worse from a heat loss point of view than the existing property. An SAP calculation is usually undertaken by a specialist surveyor.It is stipulated by Building Regulations that one must install a door of 'exterior quality'. A conservatory is only exempt from this legislation if there are separating doors.

Should those doors be removed, the structure requires Building Regulation approval.

 

[Jonny Vee]

Thanks, but this does not make sense because the sliding door is glazed and heat loss already occur. Also the door is always open and there is no stoppage for the heat to be lost.

We have also provided an extra radiator on the conservatory to overcome to the heat loss but I can confirm that the conservatory is not colder than the rest of the room.

 

[Tigercubrider]

the point is that the conservatory is only legal because it's attached to a house that met building regs at time of build.
Once you remove the (former) external door, the conservatory becomes an extension that does not meet regs.

There is nothing to stop you, but when the time comes to sell, a surveyor will flag it up and a buyer will use it as leverage.

 

[^woody^]

It's your house, do what you like.

Building control (ie the council) won't be bothered, and can not do anything about it.

The only issue, is whether your home insurance will be impacted.

 

[Leofric]

Also the door is always open and there is no stoppage for the heat to be lost.

No, please, stop.

 

[tony1851]

Can you take the doors off, store them in the garage, and re-fit them if and when you sell?

 

[garyo]

We have also provided an extra radiator on the conservatory to overcome to the heat loss

Have you considered switching this to an electric panel heater then powering it from solar panels on the conservatory roof?

 

[^woody^]

Have you considered switching this to an electric panel heater then powering it from solar panels on the conservatory roof?

That sounds brilliant ..... for those nice summer days.

 

[Chunkytfg]

As an alternative to removing the doors could you replace them with an internal Bifold door system so they're stored out the way but can also be closed when you get fed of haemorrhaging money out the conservatory as heat.

 

[Leofric]

We have also provided an extra radiator on the conservatory to overcome to the heat loss but I can confirm that the conservatory is not colder than the rest of the room.

The thing is you may not find the room cold but you will be using more fuel to maintain a certain temperature. You can heat up a poorly insulated building like your conservatory and keep it warm but you are using more heat due to the heat loss . ( You are not overcoming the heat loss ,if you see what I mean ) As some have said, it is your house ( and your fuel bills )

 

[John D v2.0]

to be fair to the OP our whole house is made of solid walls with a u-value of 2. The OPs conservatory is probably around that too. Although admittedly if we add an extension the insulation will have to be about 6 times as good.

Thanks, but this does not make sense because the sliding door is glazed and heat loss already occur.

yes but heat loss is proportional to the area, and the area of the sliding door is much less than the glass in the conservatory. Also the floor in the conservatory probably has even less insulation than the glass.

But to go back to the original question, the answer is Yes, you can do whatever you like, but it won't comply with building regulations as it's basically like removing your front door as far as the insulation regs are concerned (in fact it already doesn't comply as you have extended the main heating system to the conservatory which is classed as outside the insulated envelope)