I am in the midst of finishing the 2nd fl. of a 50 yr. old Cape Cod style house in NJ. We want to make use of the storage beyond the bedroom kneewalls under the 12/12 roof but keep it outside the thermal envelope. I’d like suggestions on what to use for the access doors/panels and how to best insulate them.
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I wish I had a picture of the kneewall access doors I installed in a house finish. The homowner had all his doors made, including the junior 6 panels for the kneewall area. Reminded me of the doors in alice in wonderland.
Have also used flush doors, cutting them down and hanging. Or, have ordered unbored prehungs and cut them down to size. In most cases, ended up weatherstripping and setting a compression bulb threshold.
All of these door options were interior doors.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
We've constructed doors from 1 x 4 T&G Fir.
I made a crawlspace entry door (before I just eliminated the crawlspace and dug a basement), that was just a nice piece of plywood with 2" foamboard glued to the back. Then nicely detailed compression bulb weather stripping and two well set latches to make sure the door sealed down. The door was warmer than the cinder block wall next to it.
MERC
These are made of 1x4 pine; construction is usually cope and stick (this one happens to have been half-lapped with dowel pins) with a raised panel. They are pre-hung in a 1x2 pine frame with a 1x3 flange set on the back side to flush it up against the inside of the gyprock. You cut a hole in the gyprock ¼" larger all-round than the frame, stick the whole unit in through the hole on the diagonal, then pull it back into place. Screw through the gyprock into the flange, then nail on the casing and you're done.
The installation shown is inside the thermal envelope, but gives access to unheated space which is generally fairly cool. I don't find a big problem with cold air leaking in, even on very windy days; whether or not you choose to insulate the doors would depend on your situation, I guess.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?