Subject: [Shop-talk] Making a trap door safe

From: Jim Stone <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:48:22 -0600 FILETIME=[7098CD20:01CDF422]

My new vacation/rental property has one feature that makes me very nervous:
access to the basement is through a trap door in the floor.  It is a small
house and the trap door sits in a hallway with the two bedrooms on each end
and the bathroom in the middle.  The door is hinged on the bathroom side, so
that the bathroom is blocked when it is up.  I hope that description is clear.
I can try to do a better job if not.

Heres the problem: the washer and dryer are in the basement.  Under any
circumstances, it is easy to imagine someone falling in the hole when the door
is open (I have come somewhat close once already), but here is the scenario
that most frightens me.  My wife wakes up in the morning and decides to throw
a load into the laundry before everyone wakes up.  I wake up while she is down
there and groggily walk towards the bathroom and straight into the 2 by 4
hole in the floor.  (Actually, my greater fear is that this happens to a
renter, who then sues me for every penny I have.)

It is a very small (780 sq ft) cottage and there is no way to reposition the
steps without adding on to the house and changing the layout.  That is
actually something we plan on doing in a couple of years, but cant do right
now.  The financial model that allows us to own this place assumes that we
rent it out for the summer season each year, and we need to get it on the
market soon.  The only option I have come up with is to padlock the door and
make the renters go outside and enter the basement through the garage door.
However, I am hoping someone here has a better idea.  I will be there in a few
weeks and would love to find a simple solution to the problem.

As always, thanks!

Jim
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From: Randall <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:31:08 -0500

---- John Innis <[email-masked]> wrote: 
> I'm envisioning a switch (like for a security system) that will tell
> you when the door is open, hooked up to a big red flashing light.

Me too, except a big light shining up out of the hole should be sufficient.  I wouldn't want to have to have a flashing red light all the time that anyone is in the basement doing laundry.

I didn't understand from your description if the hole is accessible from the side opposite the trap door or not.  If so, another possibility might be a cable or similar, fastened to the door so it forms a barrier in the bedroom directions when the door is open.

Yet another approach might be to ring the opening with light beams, and sound an alarm when anyone walks too close to the open hole.  I can see problems with that, but it should help.  Maybe a recording that plays "Danger, Danger, Will Robinson" <g>

I suppose there is no chance that the laundry could be moved somewhere else?  They make washer/dryer combos now that will fit in a closet and even leave room for clothes or shelves above it.
Eg,
http://goo.gl/XkD28

Randall

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From: Randall <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:41:14 -0500

---- Paul Parkanzky <[email-masked]> wrote: 
> Another option would be to install an automatic closer on the door.  Then
> the door wouldn't be open when somebody wasn't there holding it.  However,
> I think that this would probably make the door treacherous (and extremely
> inconvenient) to use.  

Hmm, what about a remote controlled automatic opener/closer, like one sometimes see on hospital doors?  Push a big button (positioned so you can bump it with an elbow if your hands are full) and the door opens long enough to get through it, then closes.  You could have switches on both sides, making it more practical to close the door while in the basement.  Probably combined with some indication from above that someone is down there, so you know not to block the door.

Randall

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:33:12 -0500 7.0.1|January 17, 2006) at 01/19/2013 10:31:55, Serialize complete at 01/19/2013 10:31:55

If you want to send me the photos and I can post them to my webserver for 
free, let me know.

Thanks.

Eric P
"Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational 
being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory." Ralph 
Waldo Emerson 
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From: Jim Stone <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 17:22:00 -0600

Thanks Eric. I won't be able to take them until next week, but I can just put
them on one of the free sites, unless there is an advantage to using your
server.   Is there?

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 19, 2013, at 9:45 AM, [email-masked] wrote:

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 19:14:58 -0500 7.0.1|January 17, 2006) at 01/19/2013 19:14:00, Serialize complete at 01/19/2013 19:14:00

The only real advantage is control.  On my server, you never lose rights 
of the pictures or have to worry about ads or targeted marketing.

I will not be offended if you use a free site, I was just putting the 
offer out there.  8>)

Eric P

Jim Stone <[email-masked]> 
01/19/2013 18:10

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Re: [Shop-talk] Making a trap door safe

Thanks Eric. I won't be able to take them until next week, but I can just 
put them on one of the free sites, unless there is an advantage to using 
your server.   Is there?

Sent from my iPhone

[email-masked]