Send in your questions to Steve. . .

I want to install a sliding outside front porch door, but the opening I have is only 53 inches, which would leave the door too narrow at approximately half of that gap. Can these type of doors be obtained as three section affairs, where two of the sections could slide inside the other fixed section, thereby leaving an adequate width opening of roughly two thirds of the 53 inches?

John Byrne On paper your idea of dividing the door into three sections with two of the sections sliding behind the "xed section seems perfectly reasonable but you may "nd when put into practice it wouldn't work. Divide the existing opening width of 53 inches into three; this gives you three sections of approximately 18 inches each. So in theory you will have a potential opening door size of 35 inches but you need to take off the framework sizes which will reduce this down by another "ve to six inches which leaves you with approximately 29 inches.

On top of this you would need to take another four to "ve inches for the sliding door frame sections as they will not slide perfectly behind each other which leaves you with approximately 24 inches of a possible opening to walk through. My advice would be to "t either the standard sliding door to the front of the porch or "t a brand new weather-sealed door. Or remove the old door and put a new door with sidelight to the front of the porch which would give you a bigger entrance.

Q I recently bought an old 1970s bungalow and intend to use it as a holiday home. The layout though isn't ideal; it has a warren of tiny rooms and I'd love to open up all the living spaces into one big room. At present there's a separate living room, kitchen and utility. One wall is a supporting wall. How do I go about opening up the space. Do I need planning permission?

A Byrne No, you do not need planning permission to change the internal layout of your house. What you do need though is either a structural engineer or a builder as you are dealing with rooms that have a supporting wall. A supporting wall holds up whatever is above that wall and possibly more besides. If you remove this supporting wall you have to replace it with something else, eg, a steel girder known as an RSJ (rolled steel joist). In order to remove the wall you will have to support the ceilings on either side of the wall with acro props.

Take care not to tighten the props too much as this will raise the ceiling joists and cause cracks along your ceiling line. The job of acro props is purely to take the weight of whatever is above them.

When you have the ceilings supported it will be "ne to remove the wall. Be careful of any electric wires which may be hidden in the wall. When the wall is removed slide in your RSJ beam. You might need to place some small packers under the joists to take out any unevenness. When this is done it will be okay to remove the acro props. A word of warning: RSJ beams are very heavy and this sort of job is better left to a professional.

Q I need to replace the barge boards at the front of my house. Could you recommend a supplier and fitter?

Deirdre As you did not give me your address I cannot recommend a "tter in your area. The easiest solution would be to visit my website www. tradesmenireland. com and click the 'POST A JOB' and "ll out your requirements. The job will be sent to all the "tters in your area by text and email message and they will contact you directly.

WRITE TO US If you have a building/renovation-related query that you'd like Steve to help you with, email:

doorstepdoctor@tribune. ie Steve Guerin is managing director of www. tradesmenireland. com, the one-stop website that will help you find a tradesman, a site for sale, a property to rent or buy and all the plant hire and machinery you need to complete your house build or renovation