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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!