Soon I'll be tackling the issue of an old wooden crawlspace door. Whoever put it in didn't exactly do a stellar job at it. The top and both sides have gaps in between the wood and the bricks above and foundation stones on the side. The bottom has a very large gap between the door and the ground, which I presume they left because the door would drag on the ground otherwise. So yes, this indicates that the surrounding ground is a little above grade and slanting towards the house a little.
Below the base of the outside of the door, there are two squares of cement side by side, buried into the ground about flat with the ground that goes under the door. Just on the inside of the door all the way down (maybe 3 feet in length) to cinderblocks that line a dug out hole in the crawlspace, there is what appears to be a thin layer of grey cement. I would take a guess at 0.25 to 0.50 inches thick. It increases in slope as it goes down. So when the water gets to the edge of the door, it essentially hits this cement and has an easy path down. It runs down, goes into the open tops of the cinderblocks and comes out of the wall.
This door is only a minor contributing factor of another issue of water entering the said hole, but I still want to fix it. I'm concerned with the issue of some water running under the door when it rains. Trying to install a drain and punch through the wall is an enormous task. I'm thinking that it would be much easier to simply rebuild the door with a cement ledge under it.
This is a door that someone apparently built on their own. I can't tell quite how it is attached. On the sides, I'm not sure that it is attached to anything. It appears that the cement "holds" the two side pieces of wood in place, at least on the bottom where it comes into contact with them.
My idea is to line some boards against the inside and outside of the foundation walls, forming an area where I could pour cement and let it set to form a ledge maybe 3" or a little more deep and be wide enough to go as far as the inside of the foundation rocks. Then build the door on top of that, so that the door is no longer at ground level and there is a little levy of sorts keeping water flow out until it can soak into the dirt outside.
I don't know too much about cement. How many different types are there? It appears that they used grey cement inside. That would look really tacky, considering that the foundation rocks are more of a white color. What kind of cement do they use on typical white sidewalks, for instance? I'm looking for something that color or closer to the color of the foundation rocks. Any ideas on the best way to do this?
I'm thinking of maybe some kind of rubber between the new door frame and the bricks/foundation rocks. I should be able to screw the wooden sides into the foundation rocks with the material already in between them. They nailed the entire existing door together. I prefer screws. Also, they put hinges on the outside. I prefer the hidden, inside hinges that aren't accessible. Lots of reasons for that. I'm not kidding, there was a homeless guy sleeping in the crawlspace of the house next door before when it was briefly vacant. People are weird around the neighborhood. I'd like to figure out a way to put a padlock hinge on it that can't be unscrewed somehow, or perhaps I need to nail only that part with some type of nails that can't be easily removed. Still working on that.
Note that a cord does currently run to the basement to power pumps, because there are no plugs down there. I'm working on an electrician to install a proper plug somewhere down there so that this cord can be gone. Wondering how well trying to attach the wood to the foundation rocks is going to go and what the best method/screws to do that would be. I'm not sure what the stuff is in between the top of the wood and the bricks above (last photo). Whatever material they used when they built the house.
Below the base of the outside of the door, there are two squares of cement side by side, buried into the ground about flat with the ground that goes under the door. Just on the inside of the door all the way down (maybe 3 feet in length) to cinderblocks that line a dug out hole in the crawlspace, there is what appears to be a thin layer of grey cement. I would take a guess at 0.25 to 0.50 inches thick. It increases in slope as it goes down. So when the water gets to the edge of the door, it essentially hits this cement and has an easy path down. It runs down, goes into the open tops of the cinderblocks and comes out of the wall.
This door is only a minor contributing factor of another issue of water entering the said hole, but I still want to fix it. I'm concerned with the issue of some water running under the door when it rains. Trying to install a drain and punch through the wall is an enormous task. I'm thinking that it would be much easier to simply rebuild the door with a cement ledge under it.
This is a door that someone apparently built on their own. I can't tell quite how it is attached. On the sides, I'm not sure that it is attached to anything. It appears that the cement "holds" the two side pieces of wood in place, at least on the bottom where it comes into contact with them.
My idea is to line some boards against the inside and outside of the foundation walls, forming an area where I could pour cement and let it set to form a ledge maybe 3" or a little more deep and be wide enough to go as far as the inside of the foundation rocks. Then build the door on top of that, so that the door is no longer at ground level and there is a little levy of sorts keeping water flow out until it can soak into the dirt outside.
I don't know too much about cement. How many different types are there? It appears that they used grey cement inside. That would look really tacky, considering that the foundation rocks are more of a white color. What kind of cement do they use on typical white sidewalks, for instance? I'm looking for something that color or closer to the color of the foundation rocks. Any ideas on the best way to do this?
I'm thinking of maybe some kind of rubber between the new door frame and the bricks/foundation rocks. I should be able to screw the wooden sides into the foundation rocks with the material already in between them. They nailed the entire existing door together. I prefer screws. Also, they put hinges on the outside. I prefer the hidden, inside hinges that aren't accessible. Lots of reasons for that. I'm not kidding, there was a homeless guy sleeping in the crawlspace of the house next door before when it was briefly vacant. People are weird around the neighborhood. I'd like to figure out a way to put a padlock hinge on it that can't be unscrewed somehow, or perhaps I need to nail only that part with some type of nails that can't be easily removed. Still working on that.
Note that a cord does currently run to the basement to power pumps, because there are no plugs down there. I'm working on an electrician to install a proper plug somewhere down there so that this cord can be gone. Wondering how well trying to attach the wood to the foundation rocks is going to go and what the best method/screws to do that would be. I'm not sure what the stuff is in between the top of the wood and the bricks above (last photo). Whatever material they used when they built the house.
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