A steel bulkhead door can be a great addition to a home. To install, a steel frame is lowered onto the pre cast cellar stairs. Next, pilot holes are drill into the concrete and the steel frame is bolted down. The door and latching hardware are attached, providing secure and weather tight basement access.

Bob meets Larry Landers, who is working on the access to the old bulkhead, a trapdoor, essentially. The trapdoor is kept in place in order to access the basement from the outside of the house. Sheet lead flashing and an ice and water barrier are used to waterproof the trapdoor. To give the door stability they use four pressure treated cleaters. They use two inch galvanized screws to secure the plywood sub-floor/door to the cleats. They use stainless steal nails to secure the decking to the plywood.

Bob is at the Mashpee home site for the installation of the pre-cast basement entry system from Bilco. He looks at a finished system and remarks on the light, sturdy doors that are molded of high-density poyethylene, ribbed for strength, yet light weight and low maintenance. He then visits an installation in progress to see how the pre-cast concrete stairs are drilled to accept the threaded steel rods that will join the stairs to the foundation. The faces of the stair system that will receive the butyl resin and bond with the foundation are first primed with a catalyst to help the butyl resin adhere. The resin is laid on in strips that will flatten, spread, and compress as the stairs are lowered into place and pressed against the foundation to form a water-tight seal. The stairs are made of 5,000 PSI (pounds per square inch)concrete that is so dense it doesn't need waterproofing treatment like the foundation. The door leaves are installed last, with pre-molded cutouts for the hardware. These light, ribbed doors are actually as strong as steel, but never need to be scraped, primed, or painted. They are sold as a premium product, at a higher price than traditional steel doors, because they are built to be secure and maintenance-free. These doors shed water by design, and direct it away from the house and the door opening.

Installer Juan Gonsalves shows Bob how to install steel stair stringers. Simplifying the stairbuilding process, these stringers mount directly to the foundation's concrete wall.

…and it should only take you four hours or so build. Before you secure all the bolts, make sure the doors close and latch properly. Then seal the base with mortar. Slope the edges to keep your bulkhead watertight and your basement dry.

Bob and Ryley install a bulkhead from a kit and put a trim (a soffet, facia, and drip edge) on the front facade. Kevin Benjer shows us the correct way to apply asphalt roofing shingles and a ridge vent.