Floor trap door hardware???

I's put a paie of gas strut or spring struts on it and a solenoid latch with a pushbutton switch in the closetpush the button, and while the button is pushed step and release on the trap door and let it open. No handle required. Might need some fancy hinges to totally hide the opening.

Dirt traps though - - - -

If it's gonna be that big a problem, perhaps you might recommend that he go to Area 51 and see if he can find an anti-gravity device.

His is in a closet for god's sake. In a previous post, I said that I installed a flush trap door in a laundry room with one of these to lift the door. The trap door is in an area where we kick off our shoes and boots. Nobody has ever tripped on it in the more than 40 years it's been in place.

Occasionally some dirt or grit DOES get into the lift ring. There is this miracle tool called a vacuum cleaner that solves the "problem."

Just a guess, but I suspect that the OP may have one at his home and that it would probably work in the closet as well as it does out in the open. ;)

There have been plenty of ingenious responses to this question and even some that would put Rube Goldberg to shame.

We're overthinking this. What could be simpler than the recessed rings. Collect dust? Maybe a little, but this is a closet, remember?

SWMBO is sure to run a vacuum over the area once in a blue moon. If she doesn't, what difference is a bit of dust or lint going to make? We don't see a buildup with ours and it's right in the area where shoes and boots get kicked off.

I like!

But instead of just releasing the latch, why not go all the way and make the door self opening? Add some smoke and music for effect. Maybe even have it open to a command like "Mr. Smith, I need you." (For those of you who ever watched that short-lived Dr. Who spinoff, the Sarah Jane Adventures.)

Puckdropper

? I wouldn't even bother

If you know anything about dpb, you know that he is way smart enough to know that a recessed handle is an easy solution. He didn't need our help with that or any links to sources. Heck, in the time since he made his original post he could have *made* a handle.

He's not looking for a simple solution, he's looking for an ingenious solution. When a magnet was suggested, he said that that was something he had considered. Do you think he considered a magnet and recessed plate because he had never heard of a handle?

He is specifically asking for suggestions that don't collect dirt and a recessed handle does not meet that requirement.

Yeah, you hit the idea behind the request, DD -- sometimes folks here have either seen or done something that is really out of the ordinary for not always necessarily difficult problems.

Some of the recessed lift rings are solutions but aren't quite what had in mind in asking, yes. I've thought also of a similar idea since is pretty small that would be to have the pull just be a t-rod that drops into recess. It could even be a square of the flooring so was unobtrusive then the magnet could be pretty small one to just lift the handle to get hold of it to lift...

As you say, was just casting a net for ideas other than the most obvious.

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