Connecting to Collections Care

Hello,

My museum is housed in a historic (circa 1910) building. One of the features we have are two sets of wooden cellar doors that lead into our basement. Because our interior staircase is quite narrow and has a sharp turn it in, these cellar doors are used to bring bulky items in and out of the basement (think folding tables for events, extra chairs, etc.) They are also fire escape routes. One of these doors is an exit for one of our collections storage spaces, while the other is an exit for a general museum storage room.

Because our current doors are made of wood and we live in a place that gets lots of snow, they need to be replaced regularly. The collections side doors in particular rest directly on the grass, and so rot through very quickly. We're in dire need of replacing them right now, and we've talked about replacing them with plastic doors or some other non-wood option that can mimic the appearance of wood but is a little more durable and weather resistant. Although the building is historic, the interior has been gutted multiple times, so we're more interested in preserving the historic appearance than adhering to the actual original specifications.

Has anyone used any false wood materials for doors and liked them? Alternatively, has anyone used any false wood materials and hated them? Because these doors are emergency exits, they need to be reasonably easy to open from the inside, so heavier composite products are unfortunately a no go.

Thanks!

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Anne Smyrl
Museum Assistant
Missoula MT
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Hi Anne,

Those are some hard-working cellar doors! I haven't had the opportunity to work with false wood doors, so I put out some inquiries and will let you know what I hear back. Hopefully you'll get other responses in the meanwhile.

Do you think any part of the replacement doors could be wood, like a veneer over a lighter rot-resistant material? That might help expand your options by not limiting to materials that come in "wood" pattern. The outer wood might still need regular replacing, but maybe it is easier to replace a covering than the whole door. Not that I've ever tried it, so I could be absolutely wrong. Also, you'd probably need to introduce an adhesive and maybe that's a can of worms you don't want to open.

Thanks for your interesting question. I look forward to hearing what others have tried!

Best wishes,

Lisa

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Lisa Imamura (she/her/hers)
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor
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Anne,

Doors do work hard, and that is why understanding more about the current installation is important for getting useful answers to your questions and for evaluating possible replacement products. How big are these doors? How thick? How are they detailed? Are they paneled or flush? Are they glazed or unglazed? How are they hung? What kind of hardware do they have/require? All of these are questions that would need to be answered to identify a suitable replacement. 

The fact that your replacements are failing quickly enough that you remember them having been replaced more than once suggests that the replacements may not have been exterior grade doors, which may indicate they are a size not commonly available in an exterior-grade door. Fair warning that, even if you are looking to an alternative material, if the openings are non-standard in size you may need a custom door in order to get one that is exterior grade. 

Finally, I think it would be sensible to consider making improvements to the existing installation conditions wherever possible to maximize the longevity of whatever new doors are installed. For example, does the collections door have to rest on grass? Could the grass be removed and pavers or gravel be put in place and the ground sloped to drain even slightly? Doors are expensive, and whatever you can do to protect them is worthwhile. 

Kind regards,

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Lorraine Schnabel
lorraine@schnabelconservation.com
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Hi Anne,

Richard L. Kerschner suggested looking at Bilco's polyethylene doors. However, Richard has not had occasion to use them in any historic house projects and so cannot offer firsthand experience with them. Richard's other suggestion was to use the term "basement bulkhead doors" in your searches, to narrow down your results to the more relevant. As I have only ever seen this style of door outside, it might also help zone in on exterior-grade materials, as Lorraine mentioned.

Best wishes,

Lisa

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Lisa Imamura (she/her/hers)
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor
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Lisa, this is why more information is needed. Richard is providing a recommendation for bulkhead doors, yet we don't know if these openings are bulkheads or not. I've inserted an image of a bulkhead door below for reference, as not everyone knows the proper name for this type of entry, though they may be familiar with the appearance. The installation shown is a bit different than typical--most bulkeaded entryways are set perpendicular to the building. There may or may not be an additional door in the wall beneath the bulkhead. 

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Lorraine Schnabel
lorraine@schnabelconservation.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-15-2023 05:35
From: Lisa Imamura
Subject: Replacement material for cellar doors

Hi Anne,

Richard L. Kerschner suggested looking at Bilco's polyethylene doors. However, Richard has not had occasion to use them in any historic house projects and so cannot offer firsthand experience with them. Richard's other suggestion was to use the term "basement bulkhead doors" in your searches, to narrow down your results to the more relevant. As I have only ever seen this style of door outside, it might also help zone in on exterior-grade materials, as Lorraine mentioned.

Best wishes,

Lisa

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Lisa Imamura (she/her/hers)
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor
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Hello, 

I live in a 1917 Craftsman house. We needed to address this situation when we bought the house. A concrete base was poured outside for the steel Bilco doors to be put in. There hasn't been a problem for 23 years. The basement was still a dirt floor, so we did have stairs coming from the doors inside and a floor poured at the same time. 
I hope this helps and won't be too pricey. 

Katy O'Neill 

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Kathryn O'Neill
Butler NJ
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