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Constructing Custom Reccessed Bulkhead Door

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.
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Constructing Custom Reccessed Bulkhead Door

  computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Now you're working on one of the final details, which is access to the old bulkhead that was here, right? A trap door essentially."

" Right."

" Why keep this bulkhead in place? Why not just condemn it?"

" Well, it's simply for that once or twice a year, you might need to get in to the basement if something breaks down, a mechanical item or something and you might have to replace a water heater or such."

" It makes sense to have a bulkhead. "

" Sure, you don't wanna be dragging up through the new house."

" Sure. And what we've changed here is that we had a regular traditional slanted bulkhead door and the old kitchen door."

" Right."

" But this is now the front entrance to the house."

" Yeah."

" So, you wanna be able to hide this, somewhat, right?"

" Correct and the foundation is right below the porch."

" Yeah."

" The new porch we built and what we're planning on doing is making custom door that's gonna be, I'd say 99% waterproof Bob."

" So, it's gonna be a trap door and you're gonna have to flush it. I see you've got a lead all set out."

" Yeah. We're gonna use 12-inch sheet lead, which is easily formed. You can easily form it to anything, you know, any situation you have and this one being a tough one. You wanna give me a hand with that?"

" Sure."

" You put that down there."

" It's very malleable, so that you can, just without using tools shape it and you're just laying it over your frame."

" Over the foundation for the old bulkhead. "

" Gotta to lay it a little bit more."

" Yeah. Here we go."

" And the purpose of this of course is to get it to shed any water that could be wind driven or a snow load that will melt. To make sure that it can't melt and penetrate the bulkhead, but rather get shed right off the lead and down to the deck down below."

" That's right. On the door, we'll show you a little later, we're gonna have another layer of water and ice shield."

" Sure. How are you gonna nail this down?"

" I'm gonna use roofing nails."

" Okay."

" Okay, we've completed the flushing now it's all nailed down. down and Larry has started work on what will essentially be the trap door and it's a, what kind of plywood is this?"

" This is a 3/4 tongue and groove exterior plywood. Let's see. I'm gonna get it underneath that floorboard Bob."

" How's that?"

" Here we go."

" Okay. Essentially you've attached already to 2 pieces of pressure-treated stock and then you got 2 more that you have."

" 2 more, that we're gonna attach to the door."

" Yeah."

" Blank, right now."

" So these form cleats or cleaters that give it the stiffness to have people walk on it."

" The stiffness. Yes."

" Yeah. Now, why couldn't you just do this of 1 sheet of 4x plywood? "

" Well, it's bigger than 4 feet square, so I had to have 2 pieces in."

" I see."

" And we have that piece right now and you can help me put it in."

" So it's tongue and groove plywood? "

" Yeah."

" Which of course is the best kind to use when you're doing any kind decking or sheeting like this."

" Uh huh."

" And, here we go. [unk] into place. Looks good. And we've already marked it so that we know where those cleaters lie."

" Yup."

" How are gonna fasten the plywood to the clits."

" Well, once again, I'm gonna use a 2-inch Galv screws. I have some stop marks here. Right onto a passing, it went to our lead."

" Right."

" Now, the most important aspect of this hole drive in keeping the damp out is this product, right Larry?"

" Yup. That's right Bob. This is what seals it. It's an ice and water shield."

" Right."

" We use on roof and low slope roof and we figured it'll be ideal for this situation."

" And it's like wrapping paper."

" You better move back there, I'm gonna trim that edge."

" Okay."

" I'm over the edge here."

" We'll trim it and then we'll put it over the hole."

" Okay. So now, with the cover over the hole, we're ready to."

" I'm gonna fit this border piece."

" Which is really a picture frame before we can put our deck down."

" We get in there."

" Trim that out there a little bit. This one is gonna come up later, because it has got space that block. There you go."

" We're going to nail on the inside of this frame because the outside actually laps over onto the frame."

" Sure, and you don't wanna nail it down permanent. This is still lift up."

" So Larry, how come you ripped down this first piece of deck."

" Well, we have to line up the splices between the deck boards and the deck boards on the door."

" Okay."

" And we want them to line up."

" Sure."

" So we have this special rip piece first. We're gonna start nailing those on."

" And we're using stainless steel nails."

" Yes, we are."

" And we're eyeballing mostly. We're not."

" I'm eyeballing. Yeah."

" Yeah. We're not using nails or spacer, we're really eyeballing it."

" No, because I don't want to poke a hole in the ice and water shield, hope I can avoid it."

" And let these all line up all the way down. Here's the second to the last board here Bob."

" Here you go. That's looking really good."

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