Door frame lower than window frames What would you do (xposted)
Cross posted in Home Decorating:
We've added a new sun room to our house - It's a year around room, mostly windows, that will be used for music (piano playing), reading and my DD will have her PC and drawing supplies there. As they were trimming the windows and door, they asked me what I wanted to do with the door frame, as it's lower than the window frames. This pic shows the problem with a mocked up frame on the door:
They proposed a few options:
1. Not worry about it
2. Raise the door frame up even with window frames and make some sort of simple, decorative molding to go on a board between the frame and top of door
They don't have room to make the molding larger around the entire door because of the light switch between the door and window.
Since the architects were there, I asked why this even occurred, since obviously this couldn't have been the first time they they ran into doors and windows in the same room. They were very general with their answers. First they said something about sometimes you have to match other windows in the room - But this wasn't the case here, as it was a completely new room. Then they said sometimes you have to match other windows on the house - Again, not the case here, as this room was intentionally made to look like it was an addition to the house, not part of the original. Then they said sometimes when you line windows and doors up on the outside, they don't line up on the inside. OK, that made sense....Till a week later when I was looking at the outside and noticed that the door is about an inch lower on the outside too...
I did a little more checking...We put in a new back foyer, and thus a new door and window there. They line up on the inside:
So I looked at the construction drawings. They say "Align WDW WDW Heads w/ Door HD.
Which is pretty much the same thing it says on the construction drawings for back door and window:
So, I'm a little irritated that no one has caught this before (we have bi-weekly meetings with GC and architects). I emailed the GC and asked him how much it would cost to purchase a larger door that will be tall enough to make the trims line up. It's custom order, (2-3 weeks) and a little over $2,000, but they'll do the labor for free.
I didn't point out to GC or Architects what the construction drawing says and I guess I'm a little suspicious by nature, so I don't know if the architects were 'covering' for the GC and the GC is 'covering' for his subs, or if what the plans say mean something else?
Because the trims are so close together, I'm afraid it might be a glaring 'error' if you want to call it that, since the woodwork will be painted white and will probably stand out from the wall color.
I'm sure it's cheaper now to fix (painter is painting outside now), but is it worth $2,000 to me? I know, only I can answer that, but I don't know if I'm just obsessing over something that will fade away once finished and painted or if it will always bother me. Given that the room is mostly windows on 3 sides and all the windows line up and you just have this lower door, does that make it stand out more?
And I don't know if I should question whether I should even have to pay for the fix. In this picture, it appears the header was aligned correctly
And here the door starts getting lowered:
They're really wearing me down, here.
One new suggestion on the decorating forum suggested insisting that the GC lower all of the windows to match door height - but there's 11 windows:
And the architects didn't do interior elevations, so it's a little hard to prove that's what was intended.
So, if it were your house, what would you do?
Comments (14)
renovator8
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agolibrary_girl
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
What would you do with this bathroom? (X-post)
Comments (16)circuspeanut, That makes total sense. And I totally agree that it's a better layout. But---- we're really having renovation burnout now. As you know we started demoing the main living area a year ago.. and we're still installing trim and living with doorless cabinets and plywood counters in the pantry. And that's spending every second of spare time on it! So, I'm trying to find a good compromise between making this cruddy bathroom work and look better, and not making huge amounts of extra work for DH. He's the plumber and electrician. He's already groaning about moving the door.... but I do think that will be a pretty dramatic improvement over the floor plan we have now. We've decided to do a new tub/shower combo, and he was relieved that that meant he didn't need to break into the 1950's drains to move the toilet. :)...See MoreDo framed drawers net more storage than framed rollouts?
Comments (10)In general- A)the advantage of rollouts would be they can be adjusted-B) you don't have a rail in between so there is some vertical gain in storage. The disadvantage to roll outs is that you need to open the door first. I often design in one cabinet with one rollout and 3-5 tray dividers. The rollout is kept towards the top of the opening. In frameless I can also get a shelf in there. The dividers are not just for trays but also for larger fry pans etc. There is often other tray storage in the kitchen (above fridge or oven). I like to make that cabinet 21" when I can so that it is a single door. I hate roll outs with two doors. The other place I end up with rollouts is in wider pantries, which do have two doors. The vertical adjustment makes a big difference with groceries especially in a tall cabinet. Drawers in framed cabinets- The way I prefer to set up pots and pans, nothing stacked on each other except colanders, a 3 drawer base in a framed cabinet suffers a bit. I often design with a 2 drawer preferably with the top drawer having a shallow drawer built into it. Another option to look into are full pull out cabinets. These vary a lot by manufacturer but can give better overall storage per a space for certain types of items while adding convenience. Aside from factory made ones, my current favorites are from Hafele. One with a metal frame and baskets, the other more recent they call SmartCab. That one is designed specifically for framed cabinets and for retrofit. Some of the options are good, some are too specific IMO. Best to keep it simple. On occasions- when I can't get what I want from the factory for one of these things- I order a regular base cabinet with a door and drawer and two roll outs (WITHOUT soft close). Then I tell them not to attach the door or drawer. On framed we have to do the rest on site. The door and drawer are attached to each other, there are special pins available to do this. On framed we have to add a small piece of matching wood on the back at the space between the two. Then they are attached to the drawer box and the bottom roll out. The middle roll out is left loose and adjusted high enough to allow bottles to comfortably fit below it on the bottom roll out....See Moreneed help--kitchen window frame is lower than countertop
Comments (1)If your contractor can't deal with this, get rid of him. This is part of the job. Any competant contractor can install a smaller window in the space. If you stay with a window the same width or smaller the structural aspect does not change. It's simple framing. Whether you can get a matching window will depend on availability. In a few cases I have switched windows in a house. Taken a smaller window from one part of the house and installed the larger window in that space. Yes it adds to the cost of the job, but you don't have to buy another window, and they all match. Ron...See MoreShould pictures be placed higher than the top of door frames.
Comments (4)It depends. If one is hanging just one picture and it's small, the top should certainly be below the top of the door frame. If it's a very large picture over the chest, it won't matter - same as if there is a large grouping of pictures. Just do what Angel has suggested above. You'll know if it looks right....See Morekirkhall
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