Lack of storage is a HUGE problem in my 1 1/2 storey war-time home in Windsor, ON and I was wondering...as the crawl space under the house is always high and dry (we've lived here since 1987), is it possible to create an opening from within the house, say in floor of the hallway outside the main bathroom and laundry room on the first floor, to access this area (there is already an access to it from outside the house in the backyard through the concrete foundation wall but that's a real pain)?
Answer:
This is what many of us grew up with and its called a 'trap door' - leave it open and you'll soon learn why. Provide temporary auxiliary support under a single joist in the crawl space and then cut the hole you want above it. Introduce a beam of the same demensions as that joist at each floating end of the hole. you should now be able to remove the temporary supports. Now, you make the door you'll be using to fit the hole and then nail in 2X4 ledgers all around to keep the door from falling into the crawl space. The ledgers will be nailed on at a dropped level equal (exactly) to the thickness of the door's perimeter. Your local hardware store will even have a D handle for you so you won't have to use a prybar to open it.
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