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You are here: Home / Home Improvement / Trapdoor Ideas

Trapdoor Ideas

January 23, 2014

Yesterday, I began tearing apart the half-wall that ran along the side of the basement staircase. I’m sorry I didn’t take any pictures of it, but I was kind of on a roll. Basically, I just needed to get rid if it so I could begin building my trapdoor. And by the way, I guess it’s called a “trapdoor,” and not a trap door. I don’t know why, but that’s what Wikipedia says.

It took a few hours to get rid of the wall. All I’m left with is a pile of wood and almost a sheet of used sheetrock. I’m not sure if I could reuse the sheetrock, but I could certainly reuse the wood. I actually did for a while yesterday as I was building the trapdoor I planned on keeping for a good long time.

I built the door and I put it in place. I screwed it to the hinges. Then I looked at it and walked around for a while. Then, this morning, I took it all apart. I didn’t like the look of it and it really wasn’t what I was going for at all. I think my initial goal was to have the door inset and then put a carpet or something over it so it was totally hidden. After discovering that the hole wasn’t squared off, I had to make adjustments to what I was building. That was the beginning of the end. I’m horrible at working with wood and me trying to match a trapdoor to an existing imperfect hole was going nowhere fast. I’m just glad I didn’t think of it too much or I may have lost sleep over the ordeal.

By the way, here’s the hole I’m talking about. It’s in the log cabin room.

Staircase to Basement

As you can see, I’m taking out a window above the staircase and there was an existing door in the room that’s not there anymore.

Here’s what I’m currently thinking to cover this hole. I want to make something that looks like an old barn door, put that on hinges and have it close on a pine frame. It’s no secret that the hole is in the floor – that’s fine. I just want to take my time and do this thing correctly while I have the chance.

There’s a guy up the road who owns a small wood mill. He can pretty much make anything you want as long as you give him the specs. I’m going to ask him to mill me the lumber I need for this project. I’m sure it’s going to be less expensive than going to a building supply store. And here’s an even better idea – I would like to take a tree or two down from our property for him to mill, therefor saving even more money. All he has to do it cut. I only need enough wood to cover a ten foot by three foot hole. I just want it to be straight and to look good.

How does that sound? Has anyone ever seen a really cool trapdoor? Any ideas?

Related posts:

  1. I Painted The Red Room
  2. Concrete Basement Floor Ideas?
  3. The Sheetrock Was Delivered
  4. Chester Museum at the Mill, Chester, Connecticut
  5. Bathroom Insulation is Done

Filed Under: Home Improvement

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Comments

  1. Stephanie H says

    February 21, 2014 at 9:04 pm

    I would love to see the actual milling of the lumber.

    Reply
    • Jay Gaulard says

      February 21, 2014 at 9:51 pm

      I will be helping them with a website, so I may have some pictures come Spring. I’m willing to say it’s going to be pretty cool.

      Reply

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