French doors installed too low?

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danhandy

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Hello All,

I have just had a set of french doors installed that have replaced a window.

The doors themselves look great but i am concerned that the doors have been installed too low.

They have been installed one course of bricks under the DPC.

Once the cavity is levelled with the rest of the internal floor, the doors will sit higher than the bottom of the window, and cut approx 10mm off the bottom of the glass side windows.

The french doors were only installed a day ago and have only paid 25%.

Can someone please advise what i should do? I'm worrying about this :(

Thanks,
Dan.

Here are some photos:

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Can anyone give me and advice?

Thanks,
Dan.
 
I would be on to the installer/fitter/supplier and asking them to replace them with a shorter set that are packed up at the bottom. They have take 1 , if not two , too many layers of bricks from the bottom. If these ever leak you are potentially going to have problems , plus the fact it will look awful!
 
ronniecabers said:
I would be on to the installer/fitter/supplier and asking them to replace them with a shorter set that are packed up at the bottom. They have take 1 , if not two , too many layers of bricks from the bottom. If these ever leak you are potentially going to have problems , plus the fact it will look awful!
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for your reply Ronnie.

I will contact the fitter and ask what he thinks. I have a feeling he may just say that i should lower the height of the cavity so there is a small step down. Would you say this is acceptable? I want to avoid this if possible.

Why could i have problems if they leaked?

Thanks,
Dan.
 
I would say , no a slope / step down is not acceptable., unless this was agreed to when you accepted the quotation. It looks like he has tried to make a seamless connection between the room and garden by lowering the threshold below the floor. If it ever leaks , where is that water going?
 
ronniecabers said:
I would say , no a slope / step down is not acceptable., unless this was agreed to when you accepted the quotation. It looks like he has tried to make a seamless connection between the room and garden by lowering the threshold below the floor. If it ever leaks , where is that water going?
Click to expand...

A slop/step was never agreed. Do you think i should keep hold of the money until this is sorted (i have only paid 25% so far).

The ideal solution would be for the door to be taken out, a course of bricks put back in and a new door fitted in the new opening. I don't think the installer is going to be keen on that idea though!

If i cannot come to an agreement what would the next steps be? The installer is certass registered.

Thanks,
Dan.
 
danhandy said:
ronniecabers said:
I would say , no a slope / step down is not acceptable., unless this was agreed to when you accepted the quotation. It looks like he has tried to make a seamless connection between the room and garden by lowering the threshold below the floor. If it ever leaks , where is that water going?
Click to expand...

A slop/step was never agreed. Do you think i should keep hold of the money until this is sorted (i have only paid 25% so far).

The ideal solution would be for the door to be taken out, a course of bricks put back in and a new door fitted in the new opening. I don't think the installer is going to be keen on that idea though!

If i cannot come to an agreement what would the next steps be? The installer is certass registered.

Thanks,
Dan.
Click to expand...


Yes , keep that money , whilst you have it you hold all the cards. Ask the installer why he put it so low and of course he isn't keen to replace the doors , it will cost him! But in my honest opinion unless he has a very good reason ( I can think of none! ) , then he has made a mistake and needs to accept this and correct it properly.

Certass won't be interested as they are only there as a self certification scheme for building regs.

Your next step , if he won't agree , is to possibly get an independent building surveyor in , or citizens advice , or possibly search dgcos, he may be a member
 
ronniecabers said:
danhandy said:
ronniecabers said:
I would say , no a slope / step down is not acceptable., unless this was agreed to when you accepted the quotation. It looks like he has tried to make a seamless connection between the room and garden by lowering the threshold below the floor. If it ever leaks , where is that water going?
Click to expand...

A slop/step was never agreed. Do you think i should keep hold of the money until this is sorted (i have only paid 25% so far).

The ideal solution would be for the door to be taken out, a course of bricks put back in and a new door fitted in the new opening. I don't think the installer is going to be keen on that idea though!

If i cannot come to an agreement what would the next steps be? The installer is certass registered.

Thanks,
Dan.
Click to expand...


Yes , keep that money , whilst you have it you hold all the cards. Ask the installer why he put it so low and of course he isn't keen to replace the doors , it will cost him! But in my honest opinion unless he has a very good reason ( I can think of none! ) , then he has made a mistake and needs to accept this and correct it properly.

Certass won't be interested as they are only there as a self certification scheme for building regs.

Your next step , if he won't agree , is to possibly get an independent building surveyor in , or citizens advice , or possibly search dgcos, he may be a member
Click to expand...


Thanks, i will keep you posted!
 
It has been measured wrong, I assume they did the measuring?
The only 2 options are:
1. they order and fit a new set of doors.
2. They have a new lintel fitted 1 brick course up and refit those doors higher up. This may be a cheaper option for them.

Whatever happens keep an eye on them to make sure they don't just cut a load off the top of the frames. This would effect the strength, thermal values and possibly the manufacturers guarantee.
 
Just to add they could just cut the ribs off the top of the frame, That is ok as its only there to clip addons too but it would only give 5-10mm which wouldnt be enough looking at your photos.
 
It is about 4cm too low.

The fitter has come today, he has said he can put a trim at the bottom to hide the fact the floor will be higher than the bottom of the glass.

When I level the floor into the cavity it will cover the trim that is used to remove the glass. Would this invalidate my warrinty?

Thanks, Dan.
 
Thats just not acceptable ( well to me anyway! ) They have got it wrong...simples ... they need to move it up as Gazman suggests or replace the doors and reinstate that line of bricks.

As goes their solution invalidatin gthe warranty , thats up to them ... but whatever they say ( if you decide to go down this route.....which personally I wouldn't) get it in writing!
I'd ask the fitter if he'd accept this in his house....I bet the answer is no

Oh first thing is , as Gazman says , who measured the doors? I'm assuming the fitter , or the company who supplied them did
 
The floor level is above the glazing beads, no way should you accept this, it's totally wrong
 
Thanks for the advise. The fitter measured for the doors. I have emailed the manufacturer to see what they think.
 
The manufacturer has only made them to the fitters size, I doubt they would get involved and offer their opinion as it might or would upset the fitter who MAY bring a lot of money their way, remember this...if there was nothing wrong with the job the fitter would be hassling you for the money, the fact he's offered some kind of remedial work as a work around points to the fact it's not right, if it was there would be no further work, anything he offers to remedy this is basically to save himself forking out 8 or 900 quid for a new set of doors
 
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