Let's build a trap door leading to a secret fish room under my porch!

[Sleeping Giant]

Here is a 5 minute Sketchup drawing of what I have in mind. Everything here is to scale except the height from the floor to the porch... I'll have to measure that and update tonight.

And here is top-down view to give a sense of how much room I have to maneuver around in.

I don't actually have a cat. Or a beard.

well you could always get the optional cat and beard lol

 

[JGT]

Given that you also want to store other stuff down there, are you going to be able to get it past the tanks? Doesn’t look like a ton of room next to the tanks. Maybe virtual Ken can maneuver but not so sure about real life Ken.

 

[kenchilada]

Given that you also want to store other stuff down there, are you going to be able to get it past the tanks? Doesn’t look like a ton of room next to the tanks. Maybe virtual Ken can maneuver but not so sure about real life Ken.

Me and the kids were crawling around down there today testing it out. Should be fine. I’m tempted to add in another 8x10’ but I’m trying to keep it simple. If I want more room I can easily extend it.

The bigger challenge at the moment is deciding how to wall it in. Might get a little weird with the porch joists in the way, but I’m not going to over think it.

The enemy of good is better.

 

[jabberwock]

Here is a 5 minute Sketchup drawing of what I have in mind. Everything here is to scale except the height from the floor to the porch... I'll have to measure that and update tonight.

And here is top-down view to give a sense of how much room I have to maneuver around in.

I don't actually have a cat. Or a beard.

Get a cat and tape it onto your face like a beard!

PROBLEM SOLVED!

 

[kenchilada]

Day 4. Not a fun one. Need to clean up the joists where I cut out the porch floor and frame it to hold the trap door. This is tricky because there’s no room to use most tools that would give straight cuts.

It’s hard to show in pictures what I’m talking about here. See the edge around the hole? There needs to be a ledge that the door will rest on when closed. I’ll frame around it with 2x6 and have a 3/4 reveal for the ledge.

Before I can frame it, I have to clean up rough cuts like this I made earlier so my framing can sit flush against them. That’s why I left extra material when I cut them.

I used one of these mini circular saws to cut as much as I could because they are great for cutting a nice straight line and they fit in small spaces.

But the saw won’t fit and can’t cut the whole thing as you can see below, so I switched to an oscillating saw to finish it.

Sometimes it still comes out ugly like this, then I’ll clean it up with a disc sander to flatten it. I should have used a pull saw instead but didn’t have it here.

Another hard to explain thing. I need to trim all the joists back so the framing will fit flush. So the joist with the arrow needs cut to be 3/4” under the porch so my framing can be nailed to it and stick out another 3/4” for the reveal.

Bored yet? Well here’s the framing installed with our 3/4” ledge.

My inspection crew is checking out my work. My son makes pirate faces for the camera and we’re not sure why.

And here’s the completed opening ready to hold the door!!

I haven’t decided what hinges I’ll use yet. I’ll figure it out later.

 

[kenchilada]

Given that you also want to store other stuff down there, are you going to be able to get it past the tanks? Doesn’t look like a ton of room next to the tanks. Maybe virtual Ken can maneuver but not so sure about real life Ken.

My family convinced me to extend it by 8 feet. I guess I’ll do that today, should take an hour and $100 and I’ll be back on track.

 

[shwareefer]

@kenchilada You are my hero. Not a joke. M Y H E R O.

​

 

[Spicy Reef]

Love this concept and the whole idea!
I would dig down a few more feet to make room for couch and fridge...

 

[MoshJosh]

Awesome project!

 

[kenchilada]

Love this concept and the whole idea!
I would dig down a few more feet to make room for couch and fridge...

I seriously am thinking of doing this on the other end of the house for a hot tub.

 

[kenchilada]

Here comes the @JGT wing!

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

my dad would have definitely used this for an opportunity to tell us he was building a time out room if we were bad, get a few months of good kids out of the deal.

its looking good! way to think outside the house!

 

[JGT]

Here comes the @JGT wing!

Nice! A simple plaque will do.

 

[JGT]

Nice! A simple plaque will do.

Also wondering if you might be better off putting the tanks parallel to the foundation vs. perpendicular. Looks like they would fit pretty well and it would leave the area beyond with better access.

 

[kenchilada]

Also wondering if you might be better off putting the tanks parallel to the foundation vs. perpendicular. Looks like they would fit pretty well and it would leave the area beyond with better access.

I was thinking the exact same thing! I’ll probably put the freshwater tank all the way the way in the back corner too. You might actually deserve that plaque.

 

[PigPen84]

Following!

 

[kenchilada]

Day 5. Added on the 8x8 extension bringing the total floor space to 18x8. It is glorious. It feels really huge now.

First I framed out the floor in one big section, with blocking in the middle.

Next I pushed the whole new section against the original section And screwed them together with lag screws. Hangers used on all floating joints.

That took about an hour. Now I just need to put on the floor.

Half way there and you can start to see how huge this is…

Done! I’m already loving this. It will definitely change the layout of where I place the tanks and things. I’ll update my model with some ideas later.

For reference, that step ladder is under the trap door opening. Huge!

 

[kenchilada]

Couple more pics. That’s a full 4x8 sheet of plywood laying on the back. It looks tiny!!

My work light won’t even cast light far enough to see the end!

 

[kenchilada]

I need a washing machine down here for filter socks.

 

[docforestal]

Looking great, love the build