At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor.
It's come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent
kitchen floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob

RJH wrote:

At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor. It's
come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent kitchen
floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard riser/treader/
stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove the bottom 3 or
4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend to use on a
regular basis.

This is hard (for me) to understand. If you have a stairway down to a
cellar why do you also need access through that stair? Is the cellar floor
at a different level from the space below the kitchen?

If I were going to interfere with the structure of a wooden stair I don't
think I'd just do 3 or 4 steps; one might as well make a space that cna be
crawled through easily. Also if you have to reinforce that space the bigger
it is the easier that will be.


Alternatively could you use an area of the kitchen floor that's normally got
a storage cupboard/unit or washing machine or something like that above it?
It might be easier to make a unit/appliance which can slide away from the
wall to reveal a trapdoor... like stoves with tunnel entrances below them in
WWII POW escape films.

--
Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.

Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply
to replacing "aaa" by "284".

"RJH" wrote in message
eb.com...
At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor. It's
come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent kitchen
floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob


I wish you all good luck. Many years ago it was drummed into me that you
never interfere with a staircase. Whether this is good advice or not, I
don't know. It has never let me down.
Nick.

On 07/10/2012 19:30, Jeremy Nicoll - news posts wrote:
RJH wrote:

At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor. It's
come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent kitchen
floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard riser/treader/
stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove the bottom 3 or
4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend to use on a
regular basis.

This is hard (for me) to understand. If you have a stairway down to a
cellar why do you also need access through that stair? Is the cellar floor
at a different level from the space below the kitchen?


Only half the house is cellar. The part I'd like continued access to is
not much more than a void. The existing staircase has supporting walls
either side.

If I were going to interfere with the structure of a wooden stair I don't
think I'd just do 3 or 4 steps; one might as well make a space that cna be
crawled through easily. Also if you have to reinforce that space the bigger
it is the easier that will be.


Yep, follow that. it's just whether I can cut away the existing and
somehow refit, allowing future removal.

Alternatively could you use an area of the kitchen floor that's normally got
a storage cupboard/unit or washing machine or something like that above it?
It might be easier to make a unit/appliance which can slide away from the
wall to reveal a trapdoor... like stoves with tunnel entrances below them in
WWII POW escape films.


That's a better plan, thanks. And no soil :-)

Rob

RJH wrote:
Only half the house is cellar. The part I'd like continued access to is
not much more than a void. The existing staircase has supporting walls
either side.

Ah, that sounds like my granddad's house. In his house there was a
crawl-hole through the side wall from the cellar stairs into the
floor void. It was about two feet wide with a timber lintle over it.

JGH

On Sunday, 7 October 2012 21:07:33 UTC+1, (unknown) wrote:
RJH wrote:

Only half the house is cellar. The part I'd like continued access to is

not much more than a void. The existing staircase has supporting walls

either side.



Ah, that sounds like my granddad's house. In his house there was a

crawl-hole through the side wall from the cellar stairs into the

floor void. It was about two feet wide with a timber lintle over it.



JGH

The house I lived in as a teenager had one of these. I spend several happy days exploring, mainly retrieving bits of electrickery that had been dumped there when the house was rewired. The disappointment was that only half of the underneath of the house was accessible -- there was a dwarf wall you could peer over, but I don't think dad would have let me knock a way through..

Reverting to the OP's question, I've often mused over how to make that lift-up staircase in The Munsters. But I think for crawl-in access, just remove the bottom three steps and make a stepped box that slides in.

Chris

Nick wrote:
wrote in message
eb.com...
At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor. It's
come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent kitchen
floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob


I wish you all good luck. Many years ago it was drummed into me that you
never interfere with a staircase. Whether this is good advice or not, I
don't know. It has never let me down.
Nick.




Why not the side of the stair case?

On 07/10/2012 23:45, wrote:

Reverting to the OP's question, I've often mused over how to make
that lift-up staircase in The Munsters.


Yup the question made me think of that as well ;-)

If the staircase is a traditional fully housed "closed" string design,
then it should be possible to add new support posts from the underside
to the ground at (say) the 4th step position to carry the weight of the
top of the stairs, and then cut through the strings just after the
support, and fit hinges on top where they are cut. You would need to
separate the tread from the riser at the hinge point, but that would
basically allow the lower three steps to be hinged up and folded back on
to the upper part of the stair case.

(this will only work of the strings were not plastered into the wall
after fitting).


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 08/10/2012 00:52, F Murtz wrote:
Nick wrote:
wrote in message
eb.com...
At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor.
It's
come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent kitchen
floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob


I wish you all good luck. Many years ago it was drummed into me that you
never interfere with a staircase. Whether this is good advice or not, I
don't know. It has never let me down.
Nick.




Why not the side of the stair case?

The supporting walls either side, perhaps...

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Oct 8, 1:01*am, John Rumm wrote:
On 08/10/2012 00:52, F Murtz wrote:









Nick wrote:
*wrote in message
aweb.com...
At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor.
It's
come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent kitchen
floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob

I wish you all good luck. Many years ago it was drummed into me that you
never interfere with a staircase. Whether this is good advice or not, I
don't know. It has never let me down.
Nick.

Why not the side of the stair case?

The supporting walls either side, perhaps...

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| * * * * *Internode Ltd - *http://www.internode.co.uk* * * * * *|
|--------------------------------------==============================================/

Use them as the `hinge` ;-)

http://www.oddee.com/item_97712.aspx

Cheers
Adam

On Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:46:58 +0100, RJH wrote:

At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor.
It's come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent
kitchen floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob



https://twitter.com/i/#!/GMPChaddert...com%2FCOWMvxTo

Someone did this not so far away from us.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

John Rumm wrote:
On 08/10/2012 00:52, F Murtz wrote:
Nick wrote:
wrote in message
eb.com...
At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor.
It's
come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent kitchen
floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I
intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob


I wish you all good luck. Many years ago it was drummed into me that you
never interfere with a staircase. Whether this is good advice or not, I
don't know. It has never let me down.
Nick.




Why not the side of the stair case?

The supporting walls either side, perhaps...

Not an insurmountable problem usually.

In article ,
John Rumm writes:
On 07/10/2012 23:45, wrote:

Reverting to the OP's question, I've often mused over how to make
that lift-up staircase in The Munsters.


Yup the question made me think of that as well ;-)

If the staircase is a traditional fully housed "closed" string design,
then it should be possible to add new support posts from the underside
to the ground at (say) the 4th step position to carry the weight of the
top of the stairs, and then cut through the strings just after the
support, and fit hinges on top where they are cut. You would need to
separate the tread from the riser at the hinge point, but that would
basically allow the lower three steps to be hinged up and folded back on
to the upper part of the stair case.

(this will only work of the strings were not plastered into the wall
after fitting).

I imagined leaving the stringers in place, but removing the bottom
4 risers and steps, and building a frame (or box) to reconstruct them
on, which slots in between the stringers.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 08/10/2012 13:28, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
John Rumm writes:
On 07/10/2012 23:45, wrote:

Reverting to the OP's question, I've often mused over how to make
that lift-up staircase in The Munsters.


Yup the question made me think of that as well ;-)

If the staircase is a traditional fully housed "closed" string design,
then it should be possible to add new support posts from the underside
to the ground at (say) the 4th step position to carry the weight of the
top of the stairs, and then cut through the strings just after the
support, and fit hinges on top where they are cut. You would need to
separate the tread from the riser at the hinge point, but that would
basically allow the lower three steps to be hinged up and folded back on
to the upper part of the stair case.

(this will only work of the strings were not plastered into the wall
after fitting).

I imagined leaving the stringers in place, but removing the bottom
4 risers and steps, and building a frame (or box) to reconstruct them
on, which slots in between the stringers.

A sort of mini stringer sat inside the real ones? That would get round
the problem if they were plastered in...

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Oct 7, 6:47*pm, RJH wrote:
At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor.
It's come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent
kitchen floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob

The traditional way to do this is to create a matwell by the exterior
door and have the access trapdoor under the mat which hides it
completely.

On 08/10/2012 09:07, mogga wrote:
On Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:46:58 +0100, RJH wrote:

At the moment I can access under the house through the kitchen floor.
It's come in useful a few times, but now I intend to have a decent
kitchen floor and remove the trap door access.

I think the easiest alternative would be 'through' the wooden staircase
leading down to the cellar. This looks to be a standard
riser/treader/stringer, probably original 1900. I'd just need to remove
the bottom 3 or 4 steps, enough to crawl through. Not something I intend
to use on a regular basis.

I've looked at a few diagrams, but I can't figure out the least
destructive and easiest to open/close method. Any ideas/pointers?

Thanks, Rob



https://twitter.com/i/#!/GMPChaddert...com%2FCOWMvxTo

Someone did this not so far away from us.


That's exactly the situation. I really don't fancy cutting into a
supporting wall, so I'll give it some thought around the cut into the
stairs/under the fridge/top of the stairs suggestions. Thanks all,
appreciated.

Rob