My basement steps lead up into the kitchen where the door swings out into the kitchen. The way the rooms and steps are laid out I can't put a pocket door at the top of the steps. Conveniently when this basement door is open it blocks another doorway. Makes bringing the truckload of stuff SWMBO buys at BJs down to the basement a real PITA.
Beside the unsafe idea of turning the door around to swing out over the steps anything else I could do?
Maybe a bi-fold door?
If any of you have solved this annoying problem I'd love to hear how you did it.
I agree with not swinging it over the steps. So swing it the other way in the kitchen or bifold. I you use a bifold it should fold so that leaning against the middle of it from the kitchen side does not open it.
The door at the top of the basement steps is hinged on the side adjacent to Doorway2 and swings out into the kitchen blocking Doorway2 when open. I guess I could hinge it on the other side but that probably wouldn't be much better.
A bi-fold might help but as was already posted it would have to fold towards the kitchen so someone couldn't lean or trip into the folding door and go down the steps.
I'll have to do some measuring but I could maybe move the steps away from the door with a landing but I doubt the landing would be big enough for the door to swing in. The door is 30" and the landing could maybe be 36".
A bifold closet door will work but won't likely meet code, as leaning against what looks like a solid door could dump you down the stairs. You could always do what I did, the basement door and the garage access door interfered, the basement is finished, so I just removed the basement door completely.
If that's not an option (unheated/unfinished basement), close in the stairway and put the door at the bottom.
I think I understand the situation, but I am actually more concerned with what else is going on around the doors. Cabinets, clearances, etc.
If you can hang the door on the other side and that addresses the problem then it's probably a toss up between that or getting a bifold. Probably being the operative word.
So you need to access ALL THREE openings at the same time ?
Doorway 1 which accesses something else in the house from the kitchen ? And Doorway 2 which leads to somewhere outside (garage or direct to outside) ? While also being able to get into the basement ?
Umm... Hinge the basement door on the opposite side from where it is now and and rebuild Doorway 2 so that the door swings into the other space away from the basement stair area... Remodeling the basement staircase is going to cost way too much to be feasible when all you would need to deal with the situation is potentially a new door & frame for one of the doors and a little bit of patching on the frame for the basement stairway door frame...
I wouldn't want a bi-fold door anywhere near stairs...
Or you could just use a more enlightened procedure for unloading and storing the cargoes obtained at BJ's, bringing everything into the kitchen before moving it downstairs to its storage position... Then you wouldn't have to do anything to any of the doors and you would only need to use one at a time...
Doorway1 and Doorway 2 are both just pass throughs, no doors.
That is what we do.
Sounds like my only option is to reverse the swing of the basement door. I was hoping for something really clever like the doors on a Delorean that would swing up into the stairwell.
Someone already offered that one up: "A very small overhead door comes to mind... :^/
-- aem"
How about a door that slides down into a pocket in the floor. Yes, it would be incredibly difficult, time-consuming and expensive to do, but hey, it's not my trouble, time or money, so you should go for it! ;)
If this situation is so unbearable have you thought about a solid wood door cut down the middle and hinged on both sides of the opening...
Sort of like the 8' wide double doors only much less wide -- one side would be the passive leaf with flush bolts either in the edge of the door or on the "inside" face of the door surface mounted... The active leaf would be drilled and crossbored for the lockset as normal...
I suggested what works, not what looks elegant. I've seen them installed in a couple of houses in Philly that had a tight layout. You question is answered, you choice what to do with it.
I'm not sure that I've ever seen an accordion door at the top of a stairway, but I don't know of any code prohibition. There are prohibitions about doors swinging over a landing and such, but an accordion doesn't infringe on a landing.
R311.5.4 Landings for stairways. There shall be a floor or landing at the top and bottom of each stairway. Exception: A floor or landing is not required at the top of an interior flight of stairs, including stairs in an enclosed garage, provided a door does not swing over the stairs.
That's the only code reference I'm aware of for an interior stair and a door. What's the code reference prohibiting an accordion door at the top of a stairway?
I cannot give you any reference, but I just suspect something that looks like a door but acts like a blanket might not be considered safe. I should have said I DOUBT they meet code. I sure wouldn't want to have them - better by far no door at all so everyone KNOWS it is a hole.
Accordion doors have taken a beating, and for the most part deservedly so, but that reputation is due to the fact that the only residential accordion doors people have ever seen are the cheapest pieces of crap imaginable. There are far better quality accordion doors available. Security, acoustic, quality veneers, etc.
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The sticky wicket in the mix is that having high quality with a lot of moving parts makes it difficult to get it even close to the price of a standard door option. There's nothing ruling out an accordion door in your application, other than possibly price and your sense of aesthetics. Your house, your money, your call - but it might be worthwhile to update your accordion door knowledge and get some pricing.
R
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