A new cellar door

Remember my dilemma with the freezing pipes and hay/straw for insulation? Part of that whole deal was needing a new cellar door, because the one that was there had rotted apart.

Mom and I went to town and got materials yesterday. Did you know that a 4' by 8' sheet of 3/4" outdoor plywood is extremely heavy and awkward to carry? I knew that I needed it 39 inches wide, so I had them cut it to measure. I kept the off cut too.

How serendipitous. I needed that off-cut for the bottom.

The opening is a few inches more than 8 feet. Oops. I'm going to pretend that I had it all planned out in the beginning, though, because look.

I need that room to be able to run my sump pump hose out of the basement. My plan is to cut the off-cut to the width of the door, and attach it to the rest of the door with hinges. When I need to have the hose out, I can lift just that hinged section and run the hose under the door. When I don't need it, I can coil the hose under the door, and that little section will rest flush on top of the cement.

See, just like I planned.

This is as far as I got today before Mom started getting restless and not wanting to sit and color. I can't have power tools out with Mom wanting to walk around.

I pillaged the old door for the hinges and door handle. The door handle will go on the left, and three hinges on the right, like this.

Imagine those hinges all attached and the bottom cut and hinged. I'll also give it a coat of primer and paint, although I don't know if I'll get that far before winter hits. I'll fill the whole area with bales of straw as much as I can, and fill in the rest with flakes of straw.

I also want to put a brace resting against a step on the bottom and the door somewhere in the middle, just in case Mom decides to walk on it.