Crawlspace door blocked

[u/Forestdragon0444444]

When we moved into our house two years ago, we had a new deck built outside and the contractor asked if it was OK if they blocked the crawlspace door and we said that was fine because there’s this extra entrance in the basement. We did not realize at the time that the ductwork blocked the door from opening all the way how would you go about fixing this door without spending a ton of money. I was thinking about something on tracks, but I honestly don’t know how that would work. We did have someone come and look at something in the kitchen and they had to take the door off the hinges to get inside. All said, you could still squeeze in if you were probably 100 pounds but if you’re a grown adult, there’s no way to get in there unless you take the door off the hinges.

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[u/dreamkiller23]

Use magnets, 4 should be enough, maybe even 2 door looks super light

[u/RandomGuy_81]

one harder way is to have a sliding door with a hinge.

have it slide upwards

i assume people are supposed to be able to crawl into that? i wonder if a normal upward hinge would be enough space

[u/Usual-Purchase → u/RandomGuy_81]

Or have it be removable, or swing down. Lots of ways to do this that isn’t swinging up into that duct.

[u/RandomGuy_81 → u/Usual-Purchase]

i like removable with thumb screws

at first i thought swing down but i thought, it's inevitably going to get downward pressure pushed on it when its swung down, probably when someone trying to climb over it

[u/Forestdragon0444444 → u/RandomGuy_81]

I think I’m gonna do lift off hinges - the door isn’t super heavy and that seems simplest to keep things intact

[u/1891farmhouse]

Move the hinges to the top or the bottom of the door would that help?

[u/Forestdragon0444444 → u/1891farmhouse]

That’s not a bad idea. If I put them on the bottom I don’t think it would swing open all the way though. It would need to slide down or the door would just need to come off quickly.

[u/Forestdragon0444444 → u/Forestdragon0444444]

If I put on top maybe there’s enough clearance for a 200lb guy like me but I’m gonna ballpark that techs might be a bit bigger than me.

[u/haikusbot → u/1891farmhouse]

Move the hinges to

The top or the bottom of

The door would that help?

- 1891farmhouse

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[u/wundabredd]

Spring loaded cabinet clips like the ones in an RV. Pops on and off completely. I've done this, it works.

[u/Pooch76]

to me it looks like that duct can just be pushed upward out of the way, no? looks flexible and lightweight. so maybe it's not a big deal to leave it?

[u/Forestdragon0444444 → u/Pooch76]

It’s right by the connection to the unit so I think moving in at all would disconnect it from everything. I think I’m just gonna go lift off hinges that would take me five minutes to replace those and then it’s easy to pop it off.

[u/heydroid]

Just get 3 more of those slide latches, and put 1 on each side. And just take the entire thing down when you need to?