A sliding door is just a big window, and if correctly built in (check if the glass is the correct sized for the door if a bit old) with the correct sized lintels this should not be a big problem as the loads would be transferred to the sides, allowing the door to slide easily. Silicon spray (being a Yachtie were we use this stuff everywhere), we now use silicone spray on all our windows in our 1930 home and the windows glide across with one finger before they used to tilt when trying to open them. I would place the door head up to line up with the others and one thing you might consider is placing a window seat, (rebate the bottom channels into the window seat) and have the window seat in and out, place a cushion over the entire seat, should be fantastic and if the deck is built, than no balustrade is required. If it is a stacker slider, i would do the seat for the entire length. So instead of looking a bit funny they will think it was supposed to be like that. We should all think outside the square more often. RAM

If your block is facing North or West (within Australia) maintenance will be required to ensure movement is minimized. Timber doors are beautiful they just tend to be susceptible to sun damage. FYI Cutek is a great timber protector if you want to keep the natural look however you will need to keep applying year after year.

The dimensions are not including “garage 1” which is really a boat shed (which also will be reduced to 4 x 8m). Therefore the house dimensions of the ground floor are width (external SW corner to SE corner): 7270 width (external NW corner to NE corner (garage and workshop): 9860 length (Southern wall to northern wall): 24330 (approx) distance from double garage doors to side boundary estimated as 7800. Comment: are conscious of trying to limit the concrete and avoiding breaching the landscaping ratio. We were thinking of off street parking could be along the southern side of the garage-1, use the diamondcrete matting to allow for natural drainage. Downstairs bedrooms would be for guests, elderly parent would ideally be upstairs in Bed 2. An option was to move Bed 3 upstairs and insert between stairs and ensuite…And so slide the Ensuite/bed 2/“bath” to the south, which helps align the ground/first floor while retaining the lift. We think we can reduce the width of the Deck by almost 2m which will further reduce overhang and help reduce some costs. There is probs scope to reduce the size of the master bedroom and def keen to get rid of the dogleg entry. We weren’t too keen on having a bedroom sharing a wall with the master bdrm. the master bedroom facing south was as much for views to east and bit to south, probs don’t need all the south facing windows we currently have. And yep, Bed 2 and bed 3 all need windows, with bed 4 having windows not doors.

Hello Kate, so not to build your hopes up; it seems to me from the external image of these two windows that the centre post between the windows is Structural. Adding to this; when building your house it would also have been far more cost effective to use the dividing pillar as a structural support (both inside and outside wall leaves) so to allow for 4 smaller & thus less expensive support Lintels. So to your questions, yes converting these two window spaces into one opening should still be able to be achieved because it looks like you are lucky enough to have room above these windows for the required size lintels for this new span but you will also likely need to increase the size of the existing support post next to the existing sliding door as well as salvage all the existing bricks so they can be re-layed. You are also likely going to need extra floor tiles, so it would be handy if the previous owners had some put away somewhere. So, as per Dreamer's advice, the first step would be to get in contact with a Local Builder and fully cost the project so you know what to budget for. Hope this helps, Malcolm.