Opinion on full wall window please.

Think your idea is one to go for. Great expanses of glass can be either too hot or too cold at least in UK. My neighbours had massive bifold doors installed last year. How many times have they had them open - once. They forgot about the wind blowing leaves, grass in never minds the draught. Windows in new houses are generally smaller than 2/3 decades ago as its recognised how thermally inefficient they are. I wouldn't fancy sitting in a large area in the dark without blinds or curtains. And together with hard flooring these combinations just seem like a public building to me.

Thanks Flexi. French doors are beautiful and timeless. Had them myself many years ago. You’re very lucky.

My lounge has full width floor to ceiling windows, well french doors. I've had them for the past 22 years so not a fad. I live in London and the room is north facing. I have no window dressing as the room is not overlooked. My heating is rarely on so no it's not a cold room. Our sockets are on the side walls and we have wall lights and lamps, plus the tv is wall mounted. It's a large room so there is no shortage of walls.

Northern France, I have one big south facing double glazed sliding window. I wish it was treble glazed even though I have blinds, I have lined curtains to keep out the cold in winter.

Greyduster - there are 2 issues about sockets in the floor - accessibility for those with disabilities and damage from flooding.
New builds have to have sockets mounted part-way up the wall to allow for this. Extensions come under different regulations and vary.
However, most large windows have to have a small amount of wall to hold them, and sockets can usually be put there.

Thanks. I get the awning thing. We’ve discussed that previously. He’s designing this with an overhang of about 2/3 foot which I guess will do a similar job. Thanks for all the comments. Much appreciated ?

Our kitchen has 75% floor to ceiling windows, facing south. Love them but they do make the kitchen very hot in summer. I am reluctant to put up curtains in a kitchen and don’t really like blinds. Are awnings the answer?

The first thing we bought when we moved in was a large awning as our south facing room was too hot!

We had a full wall of sliding windows in a bungalow we lived in in Belgium. There was about eighteen inches of wall underneath them. The rest was glass. I felt as if we were living in a goldfish bowl, and cleaning them was a pain in the neck. I suppose the regulations allow for sockets set into the floor?

muse sounds lovely. ?

Our new build (bungalow) has full south facing window in the open plan living area which is vaulted. The window is sectioned and quite high. There are two fixed windows with french doors in the centre, then three windows above them.

No neighbours so no curtains or blinds are going to be fitted. Temp is brilliant. Sun doesn't come blasting in all day long. It travels across the room throughout the day. We have fitted a slate floor which retains the heat and releases it at night. The winter temp is good too because of that + the masses of insulation in the ceiling, floor and other 3 walls. We've also have fitted a heat recovery unit.

The french door leads onto a veranda (glass covered) and then the garden (to be). This glass is self cleaning

I'll be employing a window cleaner for the rest

Sounds lovely what you are planning.

We have a wall of windows in our H/H, it’s on a hill and the view extends to 50 miles+. So nothing else would do. They have special safety glass which is Argon gas filled and is self cleaning.
We had Venetian blinds made so that they nestle up at the ceiling when not in use. I love light spaces, even in our main house we have a wall of windows both in the dining room and kitchen. I’m with your DH’s opinion.

Closed curtains because the wind threatened the awning !

I had to get an awning as the heat from our south facing living room is unbearable, today it is hailing , snowing and blowing a Hollie , but the blinks of sun in between has the temperature up to 28 ! So I have the curtains closed .

In my experience you can contact the Building Inspector at your local authority and ask. It is also possible that they put that information on-line, but I know it varies.

Just need to keep him focussed. He goes off at tangents and doesn’t finish things. I’ll need to be a good project/man manager ?

How nice, you can a lovely large room for summer gatherings, leading out onto your garden and a winter snug.

We’re not overlooked unless you try hard. But when I moved in here with my OH he had no curtains or blinds at the back windows. I always felt a bit vulnerable when I was dark outside that a prowler could look in. Unlikely but there you go. I made huge curtains and they’ve worked well. They stack right back when not needed. We already have an extension right across the back with two patio doors and a 1m wall area in the middle. We sit near the window in spring/summer in easy chairs. OH wants to make it much bigger though so he can put big sofas in and make it our lounge. Currently our lounge is set back into the house and is nice and cosy. You can tell I’m not over enthusiastic can’t you. Lots of mess for little gain but it’s his dream so I’m being positive and supportive ?
Interesting comment re floor sockets and building regs. Side walls wouldn’t work for us with the plan we have so that might be an influencer. ?

It's fine if you have the view to go with it, otherwise I don't see the point.

As I have posted before, we built our own house and for various reasons have almost an entire 'wall' of bi-fold windows (they are 6m of the 8m width). We have a fantastic, ever-changing view.
We don't have sockets in the floor, but find the sockets at the side fine for what we want. You may not be allowed floor sockets under building regs (depends on technicalities)
Insulation is fine - they are Pilkington, and were the best 'u' value available at the time. However, we are north facing. I would worry that south facing large windows would allow the room to get too hot. There are technical ways around that, which you would need to take advice on.
Will you be seen by others? I imagine not, or you wouldn't be planning this.
You may not worry about curtains or blinds as it is an extension, but if you want them, you need to plan carefully for such an expanse. I love the curtains I made, but it took me ages to design them!

If the room is big enough you don't need a window seat you could have a couple of armchairs facing out so you can watch the wildlife in your garden.

A sliding full length window opening into a conservatory was our choice on one property we bought. Ideal all year round especially when having visitors .

We installed a whole wall of windows in our kitchen/diner. It is fabulous and everyone comments on it. We were advised not to have bifolds as they can be heavy so we went for glass sliding doors. Have never regretted it especially as we have a pretty garden and a lovely view. Our room faces north-west by the way so never gets too hot. However we also did the same in our bedroom which faces the same way as the kitchen (it's a bungalow) and have regretted it somewhat in that room as there is no small window to open for ventilation. I'd say go for it and, even if you don't do the whole wall, definitely put in a floor-to-ceiling window somewhere as it does create the wow factor. We put a small full-length window in our last house and, again, everyone commented on how good it looked.

If I had my kitchen extended, I would have large French doors, but also smaller windows at each end, so they could be opened without having a howling gale round my feet.

We have a big window in the kitchen but not floor length. We have a window seat there and it is my favourite place to sit. Last year we debated having it converted to some sort of opening doorway but decided that we actually would use that less than the window seat.