Bricking up external door and window

Just wondering if anyone has done this previously and what the cost was? An idea I had floating around was to brick up the external door and window (or just redo whole wall - it is 2m in length) and put a long rectangular window higher up on the wall. One internal doorway would also be plastered up and a new sliding internal door installed on the adjoining wall. This would enable us to maximise the small space and convert the laundry to a combined bathroom/laundry room.

This is a 3x1 house at present. Do you think the cost of this would be outweighed by the value add of an extra bathroom? It would be a shower, vanity and toilet - the other bathroom has a bath tub. Is there any issue with having one external door for the back of the house as opposed to the two there are now?

 

"Have you done it and what did it cost"
Yes and it cost maybe $50 in mortar and a fair few hours of removing bricks, cleaning them and relaying. Acid wash ($15) is yet to come.

 

Is that a fashion statement?

 

Is there any rules for the number of external doors a house has to have? I'm thinking that 1 front door and 1 back door (instead of 2 - through kitchen and laundry at present) is a bit weird but not sure.

 

Trapdoor?

No set rule or location - whatever works best for the flow of the house.

How will the door from the kitchen affect the flow? Is it far/inconvenient from the laundry? Is it bad fengshui?

 

Converted laundry to bathroom including closing off the external door. Cost $8000 for new gyprock, plumbing, shower and vanity install, painting, shower and floor tiling, electrical etc. There was an external toilet in the house so the new bathroom didnt need a loo. The builder didnt brick external, its got weatherboard (the house is brick). Qld.
I guess when considering blocking the door - ease of someone carrying washing out to the washline is the most likely consideration.

 

The door from the laundry goes directly to the back deck but if you go through the kitchen door then you need to go through a gate to get to the back yard. It's no big deal - I'm more just thinking if that kind of layout would be considered weird by buyers in the future. I'll post a floor plan when I get home

 

You be the judge of that!

 

@spludgey - I was thinking more like this:

Spoiler: Acid wash

 

I once accidentally did that to my jeans when I wanted to get a stain out.
As I was at uni and a cheapskate (still am) I still wore them out though.

 

I totally forgot about this thread until now. See the floor plan below.

The plan would be to brick up the external door from the laundry and also remove the door that accesses this room from the kitchen and plaster it up. I would add a new (sliding) door to access this room through the corridor to maximise space. I would also add french doors to the third bedroom back wall as this has direct access to the back patio. This would be a nice feature but it's unfortunate that it'd have to be in the room with no BIR and I don't think there's room to put one in without significantly compromising the size of the room. This may be an issue as some buyers may want to make this the master bedroom due to outdoor access. Thoughts?

 

If the plan is to scale, the bedroom beside the back patio is the smallest.

It is unlikely anyone would choose it for the master bedroom due to size and lack of storage. Installing French doors will restrict furniture placement and possibly limit its appeal.
Marg

 

Yes, that was my thoughts. No one would choose it as a master based on those factors but then I'm not sure if it'd be popular as a bedroom for kids given the door would enable external access. I guess it could work as a study or guest room but then that would limit the marketability as it's sold as a 3 bedder.

 

I have measured the third bedroom - it is 3.7 x 3.0 metres (11.1sqm). if I put in a BIR with sliding doors against the length of the front wall, it would be 2.1 metres wide. I'd make this close to ceiling height so I could fit in two hanging rods rather than one. This would be a bigger robe than bedroom 1 which is 1.7m wide and also has opening rather than sliding doors. It would however take up 60cm of width off that part of room.

A queen bed with bedside tables would fit against the right wall with a foot to spare on either side (while door is open). A chest of drawers wouldn't work but this may not be needed with a bigger and more well designed wardrobe (maybe?).

The biggest bedroom in the house is 15sqm. Would a buyer choose a slightly smaller room as a master if it meant having a bigger wardrobe, patio access and view of the yard?

 

Normally I would say yes but not sure with the floor plan the 2nd bathroom is that much of a practical value add. As the other bathroom is still not converted to an ensuite (bed 3 is not master) so it just becomes the 'small bathroom' to anyone who is living there.

It would however look good on any ad as 3-2-1 instead of 3-1-1 if people aren't looking inside (maybe desktop vals?).

Good luck!

 

I guess bedroom 1 would almost have an ensuite given the new bathroom's door would be just on the opposite side of the hall (same for bedroom 3 and the existing bathroom) but I get what you're saying. May need to do some more research.

I wonder if the BIR and external door in the third bedroom would do anything for value? Probably not but may look a bit nicer

 

Any further thoughts on this idea?

 

Is this a PPOR? Maybe the laundry/bathroom combo if important to you.

Frankly, I can't see the point in any of the improvements you mention. The house is simply too small for them to make much difference if you are trying to increase the value.

Bed 3 is too small for a large BIR and a queen bed. One foot each side of the bed means there is only enough room to shuffle sideways.
Marg

 

You look great SNM, how do you have no mates ? and make sure you use sun block if you have work outside the office....

 

My house has one back door and three front doors - weird maybe but it works. Completely depends on the functionality of the house.

In this case, I wouldn't do it. If there's no external door in the laundry, it's going to be a pain to walk right through the house to get outside to hang out the wash. And I don't think the value of the additional bathroom will outweigh the PITA factor.