Crawl Space Access Hatch Through Floor Joist

I live in a 1950's ranch on a dirt crawlspace. The house's exterior walls are concrete block and there appears to be a main support beam running down the center of the house in the crawlspace with floor joists spanning between it and the exterior wall.

I currently do not have access to the crawlspace and would like to for many reasons. My plan is to cut a hatch in a closet floor. The floor joists are 16" on center. I have been searching all over the internet and apoligize if this is redundant.

I would like to cut a hole that would involve cutting through 1 floor joist making an opening approximately 32x32. I have read various things about how much, if any, reinforcement I would need to do to accomplish this safely. Do I need to sister the uncut joists their entire length? Do I need to sister them at all or can I just add a crosspiece between the uncut joists attached to the cut one, essentially framing the opening? Does the cross peice need to be doubled up?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

It would be sounder advice if we told you to retreat to the back of the house and create an opening in the block foundation and frame it up with 2x8 pt lumber and install a door.

 

If only I were so lucky. There is a poured concrete footing at ground level, on which the block wall is set.

 

And? How many block are on top of the footing? If you have 3 blocks, that's 24", and I am sure you have more than that. Maybe you misunderstand what I am talking about. You won't go under it, go through it, removing block and reinforcing it with new lumber header and sides.

 

The exterior walls are concrete block up to the soffits. From the footing to where the floor in the house is might be 1-2 blocks. It's hard to tell since I've not been able to get down there. The crawl space ranges from 1-3 feet based on teh few places where I've been able to see down.

 

Then you won't gain anything by cutting into your flooring to gain access to a space so low. Post a picture or two from the outside on opposite corners of the house on a site such as photobucket.com and copy/paste the IMG code to your reply post. I'd be interested to see what you have.

 

It's your home.

You can do with it as you wish.

If it was my house and I wanted into the basement, I would find out exactly where the joists were at and I would cut between them.

Do a exploratory and remove as little material as possible.

Once in the basement, take a look at how things are ran and then cut accordingly.

It seems to me that you have some common sense and some building knowledge.

Just make sure not to cut anything major before looking at it to make sure that something else doesn't come loose before you start to cut.

I would put cribbing under the joists you wish to cut before you cut them. Jack them up just enough to take the weight off them and then make sure to box your hole - I would use a double 2 x what ever size the boards are and I would use ring shank nails.

Make the hole what ever size you need.

When it is all re enforced, then take the cribbing out and do as you please.

Try to reuse the old flooring to cover the hole if possible.

If it is just plywood, then you can replace it with what ever you wish.

You could put a handle and two hinges on the door and could come and go as you please.

 

Do not cut any doubled joists. Trimmer and header joists at openings must be doubled when the header span exceeds 4'0". At 6' header and longer, hangers are required on all.
Be safe, Gary

 

Hi,
Did you ever solver your hatch problem? It is a fairly easy solution to implement. You will probably need a structural engineer to 'certify' your plan.

I did a similar project that worked well. The hatch in the end was hinged with a pianno hinge and I installed an inset handle to lift. It would open and lean against a wall. Worked great.

 

Hopefully after 3 years they did. Look at the dates on posts so you can stay current. Also, you need to change your profile state, since there is no Saline, Hawaii.