i have small an opening in the wall of my garage that goes into an area of the crawlspace. I would like to close this off and make it look nice. What I would really like to use is a regular door. However, the openign is only roughly 32 inches tall and 36 or so inches wide. I thought about makign my own door and casing, but was not sure how hard that was to do. Any suggestions?
That depends on your skills and how precise you want the door. If it were me ,I'd probably use a access panel.
I've seen a decent looking full size hollow core door that was covered with an assortment of moldings to make it look like a paneled door. If you're fairly handy you could do the same thing with some 1/2 ply.
If you have a table saw, casings are a piece of cake. A skil-saw and some skills, and they are possible.
Is this a door that will be used often? Does it need to be airtight to keep heat in/out? Does it need to be locked? How important is appearance?
Does it *have* to be 32x36?
Jim
Will not be used often. Does not have to be air tight Does not need ot be locked I would like it to look like it belongs there but doe snot have to be fancy if that makes sense.
I could fudge the size a little bit. Cant go any higher thought.
Simplest thing would be to buy a cheap door with frame and cut it down to fit. Measure and see if you can get the top 2 hinges on a 3 hinge door into the space you have.
It's not going to be that wide or heavy - I think I'd just make a simple frame (2x2" or maybe 1x3" depending what I had laying around) with a diagonal brace, then cover it in ply. Probably just use a little hook and eye catch on it - although with a bit of creativity you could add a proper door handle mechanism (with a bit of bulking-out of the frame around that area so strength wasn't compromised).
Of course you could do the above and sand / stain it and add whatever decorative molding you wanted :-)
cheers
Jules
If you have an opening from a garage to an occupied space (this includes attics, basements and crawlspaces above and below), code requires the opening to have a fire rated door, and it should be weatherstripped. The idea is to prevent fire and fumes from entering the occupied space and killing people. You don't have a door there now, but that doesn't mean that you don't need one nor that it is exempt from code requirements. It's not a big deal to make it conform, and it'd be silly not to do so.
R-snip-
A crawlspace is an occupied space?
I agree with you if it is considered occupied-- but I thought that 'occupied' meant it would normally have people in it & didn't include attics or unfinished basements.
[and I'm not having any luck finding a reference that describes it]Jim
For something that small I'd go buy a pair of 18 or 21 inch kitchen cabinet doors and just do a full overlay, screwing the cabinet door hinges directly to the drywall face, two knobs in the middle and you're done. Cabinet doors are 36 inched high, that will leave 2 inch overlay top and bottom to hide the hole.
If your furnace is in the crawl space door should be sealed to prevent any fumes from entering (mainly gasoline or car exhaust) WW
Oops my mistake cabinet doors are 30 inches high, you'll need 42 inch cabinet doors, or just make a pair of plywood doors.
I wouldn't put this on a 'hard to do' list... Buy a piece of plywood, some of that iron-on edging, a couple of hinges, a couple of magnets and a handle. Cut the plywood to size, so it overlaps the opening, edge it with the iron-on stuff (maybe paint it?). Attach the hinges and handle, then use the magnet to keep it shut (assuming that the door doesn't open downwards, so that the magnet is not holding too much stuff). If it needs to be more secure, replace the magnets with a latch.
Also, to comment on the comments above, I would rate a circular-saw as easier to use than a table saw for that kind of thing... As long as you have one of these
John
Ever see the movie "Coraline"? You need THAT kind of door.
-Frank
That doesn't address crawlspace or 'occupied space' -- but it is specific enough in the generalities, that I'd be inclined to go with Ricodjour in principle. The OP should use a fire-rated door that closes itself. Sheetrock & a closer would do it.
The added cost and aggravation now is well worth it in the worst case-- and even if you just get a picky inspector when you go to sell.
Jim
I just visited a web site touting hidden doors. In general, they disguised the door as a bookshelf.
If you're going to the trouble of building a custom door, you might consider incorporating this idea.
Lordy. It's a garage. Two vertical strips of L-shaped rail to drop the panel in, with a matching top rail attached to the panel to act as a handle. If this is through a firewall, include a layer of 5/8 fire rock in the panel, and make it bigger than the hole, so there are no burn-through spots. Don't make this harder than it needs to be- not like it will be opened more than a few times a year. You can even buy plastic channel to edge the drywall panel with, to reduce moisture wicking up from the slab, and avoid the white dust whenever you open the panel or handle it.
He may be planning on using the space the same way we use Canada; a place to keep the crazy aunt.
Exactly. Not all situations are directly addressed by code requirements. That's why building inspectors are there to interpret them. The typical situation has a garage slab one to three steps below the first floor of the house. Having enough of a height differential to allow a crawl space is an unusual situation.
The intent of the code with respect to attached garages is to prevent fire and fumes from entering the occupied space. A building inspector would not look at the letter of the code and ignore an obvious shortcoming - an end run around the fire rating and fume requirements, which is what the OP has on his hands. It is an existing problem, a potential liability, and the OP's reworking of the opening means he is responsible for it and should bring it up to the code intent.
There is relatively little additional work involved in making the crawlspace door opening conform to the code intent. It's akin to swapping out electrical receptacles from two prong to three when work is being done in the room. There's no logical reason not to do it, other than an extra $20 in materials and an hour of time. The downside is far deeper than the upside is 'up'.
R
...a bookshelf door. In a garage. To a crawlspace. Huh?
RHomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.