We have a "loft door", which is basically a large heavey room door
mounted on the ceiling. It has fallen down once or twice, and one one
occasion narrowly missed SWMBO. She say's it has to go!

However, my brother in law has come up with an alternative
suggestion.......

Take it off and cut it in half lengthways (if necessary putting some
timber down the edge to close the gaps) then rehang the two half
doors, bomb bay style.

SWMBO has agreed to this, but what catches can we use? I can only
think whatever we use would need to be mounted at the ends, also we
ideally want to be able to open & close it from below with a "stick"
rather than having to climb on a chair to undo bolts or whatever.

Any ideas?

"Zikki Malambo" wrote in message
om...
We have a "loft door", which is basically a large heavey room door
mounted on the ceiling. It has fallen down once or twice, and one one
occasion narrowly missed SWMBO. She say's it has to go!

However, my brother in law has come up with an alternative
suggestion.......

Take it off and cut it in half lengthways (if necessary putting some
timber down the edge to close the gaps) then rehang the two half
doors, bomb bay style.

SWMBO has agreed to this, but what catches can we use? I can only
think whatever we use would need to be mounted at the ends, also we
ideally want to be able to open & close it from below with a "stick"
rather than having to climb on a chair to undo bolts or whatever.

Any ideas?

just use a "one touch latch" at each end of each door

mrcheerful

Zikki Malambo wrote:

We have a "loft door", which is basically a large heavey room door
mounted on the ceiling. It has fallen down once or twice, and one one
occasion narrowly missed SWMBO. She say's it has to go!

However, my brother in law has come up with an alternative
suggestion.......

Take it off and cut it in half lengthways (if necessary putting some
timber down the edge to close the gaps) then rehang the two half
doors, bomb bay style.

SWMBO has agreed to this, but what catches can we use? I can only
think whatever we use would need to be mounted at the ends, also we
ideally want to be able to open & close it from below with a "stick"
rather than having to climb on a chair to undo bolts or whatever.

Would magnetic catches be strong enough?
(They have incredibly strong magnets now,
but I haven't seen them used in d-i-y at all.)

But I have a fairly large attic door of the type you mention.
I found a rather nice brass bolt-like device with a spring
which has a ring which one can open with a hook on a long pole.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

SWMBO has agreed to this, but what catches can we use?

How about hanging the doors so that they swing upwards into the loft?
When shut they would rest on a 'door-stop' around the hatch. No danger
of the door swinging down & braining someone.

In article , "Zikki
Malambo" says...
We have a "loft door", which is basically a large heavey room door
mounted on the ceiling. It has fallen down once or twice, and one one
occasion narrowly missed SWMBO. She say's it has to go!

However, my brother in law has come up with an alternative
suggestion.......

Take it off and cut it in half lengthways (if necessary putting some
timber down the edge to close the gaps) then rehang the two half
doors, bomb bay style.

SWMBO has agreed to this, but what catches can we use? I can only
think whatever we use would need to be mounted at the ends, also we
ideally want to be able to open & close it from below with a "stick"
rather than having to climb on a chair to undo bolts or whatever.

Why not counterbalance it with a cantilever arm or pulley? Get the
balance right and magnetic catches will be sufficient to hold it, plus
it will be easier to open and close.

"Zikki Malambo" wrote in message
om...
We have a "loft door", which is basically a large heavey room door
mounted on the ceiling. It has fallen down once or twice, and one one
occasion narrowly missed SWMBO. She say's it has to go!

However, my brother in law has come up with an alternative
suggestion.......

Take it off and cut it in half lengthways (if necessary putting some
timber down the edge to close the gaps) then rehang the two half
doors, bomb bay style.

SWMBO has agreed to this, but what catches can we use? I can only
think whatever we use would need to be mounted at the ends, also we
ideally want to be able to open & close it from below with a "stick"
rather than having to climb on a chair to undo bolts or whatever.

Any ideas?


Couldn't the whole door be hinged to open into the loft, rather than
downward into the hallway? Could the door be hung so that it opens length
ways so that you could install a ladder type thing on the back of it?

Placing thin stops around the bottom of the hatch opening, so the door rests
on them rather than fall right down, would be the best bet for this. The
hinges could then be placed on the face of the door that looks into the
loft, and on the side of the joist so that the door opens upward into the
loft space, rather than falling on top of heads in the hall.

The door could also be installed on hinges at the narrow end and have a
ladder installed on its back. You could have one strong draw latch that you
can operate with a pole and lower the door down to reveal a sliding ladder
that reaches the floor.

Zikki Malambo wrote:
We have a "loft door", which is basically a large heavey room door
mounted on the ceiling. It has fallen down once or twice, and one one
occasion narrowly missed SWMBO. She say's it has to go!

Might simply upgrading the catch, so it's utterly impossible for it to
open accidentally?

"Zikki Malambo" wrote in message
om...
We have a "loft door", which is basically a large heavey room door
mounted on the ceiling. It has fallen down once or twice, and one one
occasion narrowly missed SWMBO. She say's it has to go!

However, my brother in law has come up with an alternative
suggestion.......

Take it off and cut it in half lengthways (if necessary putting some
timber down the edge to close the gaps) then rehang the two half
doors, bomb bay style.

SWMBO has agreed to this, but what catches can we use? I can only
think whatever we use would need to be mounted at the ends, also we
ideally want to be able to open & close it from below with a "stick"
rather than having to climb on a chair to undo bolts or whatever.

I suspect that the existing catch is the push-to-latch and push-to-unlatch
type. I am very wary of these after a prospective buyer looking round my
last house was nearly bashed in the face by the corner of the trapdoor,
after it unlatched itself without warning.

My current loft trapdoor has the kind of catch that you rotate through 90
degrees, which is pretty foolproof unless you deliberately only turn it
through 45 degrees after closing it. It came with the loft ladder, but I
daresay you can buy them, or something very similar, separately.

Rick