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Floor Door Done and Installed! - Printable Version

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Floor Door Done and Installed! - iublue - 12-11-2021

Got it done!  Pretty happy with how it came out.  A friend of the homeowner did the calculation on what shock to use and another friend made the brackets out of 1/2" steel!!

The first two pics show the interior of the door and the 5/8" thick poplar that I used.  I used 1/2" birch ply for each side.  Once I assembled the (8" x 8") grid work, I used West System epoxy and 150 screws on each side to attach the plywood.  You can see the grid lines I drew to line up the screws on the bottom of the door.  It made the torsion box extremely stiff.  No worries here about any failure due to weight on the door!  I used a VERY heavy continuous hinge with 1/4" GRK screws attaching it.  The door sits on 2x4's along each side.  I used five 1/4" GRK lags to attach the brackets on each side to the floor joist.  I used some ash to set the brackets out so that they were under the door.  The brackets on the door were made of 1/4" steel angle and attached with four 1/4" GRK lags on each side.

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The rest of the pics show the finished product.  I did put two steel plates on the bottom to get it perfectly balance.  Right now it takes maybe 15-20 pounds of force to raise the door.  Once you get it to a little above waist level, you can let go and the shocks take it the rest of the way up.  Maybe 25 pounds of pressure to close.  They had the flooring and I made the trim out of walnut.  Amazing how it matches the flooring!

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RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - lift mechanic - 12-12-2021

Nicely done. Was it difficult to figure the gas cylinder/shock size?


RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - Terry W - 12-12-2021

I'll have to say that this is the first door in a floor I've seen built.  It looks like it turned out fantastic. That torsion panel grid should hold more than enough weight as I doubt anyone plans on parking a piano on top!

Well done sir. Well done.


RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - iublue - 12-12-2021

(12-12-2021, 12:58 AM)lift mechanic Wrote: Nicely done. Was it difficult to figure the gas cylinder/shock size?

I don't know since I didn't do the calculations! 
Big Grin

The homeowner had a friend who runs a tool and die shop.  The engineer at that firm did the calculations and then went on McMaster-Carr to match his numbers with the shock values.


RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - fredhargis - 12-12-2021

Well done, that does match the floor quite well!


RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - jteneyck - 12-12-2021

Fantastic work by all involved.  

John


RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - shoottmx - 12-13-2021

One awesome looking project!

gary


RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - stav - 12-13-2021

Looks great. Do they get any draft coming up from the area below? 

Now they just need a rug and a speakeasy.


RE: Floor Door Done and Installed! - iublue - 12-13-2021

(12-13-2021, 08:29 AM)stav Wrote: Looks great. Do they get any draft coming up from the area below? 

Now they just need a rug and a speakeasy.
Thanks,

No draft that I know of.

She plans on getting an area rug so that would take care of any draft!