Here’s a question. On a new house, it would be nice to have a simple way to put firewood into the basement. Unfortunately, the basement windows are on the opposite side of the house from the driveway, so any wood delivered would have to be transported completely around the house. I know what this does to a lawn.
The first floor is approx 3 ft above the garage floor level; therefore, there is a 2 ft kneewall in the garage. It would be simple to put some sort of open-able passage between the garage, at floor level, and the basement. However, I assume this would have to be fireproof or suchlike, since it would be a potential leak path from the garage into the house; I assume it would have to be rated the same as the door from the house to the garage.
Anyone ever done or heard of anything like this? Ideas? Insults?
Replies
A couple issues come to mind. In addition to being fire rated, I think you'd want the framing and trim around the hatch to be pretty rugged. It seems like a lot more firewood would be tossed at the hatch than gently handed through it. Also, are there safety issues with storing a large quantity of flammables in the basement? I know densely stacked firewood isn't going to burn like gasoline, but it will burn.
Guess you could cut a stairway into the garage floor leading down into the basement. Real hand, but expensive. And you lose the floor space in the garage.
A chute with a metal door of some sort might work well. Make sure you can fasten it open so it's not in the way when you're tossing wood down.
You probably ought to run it by your local inspectors if you have code issues - You never know what the local guys are gonna think.
There are 10 kinds of people; those who can count in binary and those who can't.
A friend of mine here in CT built his house with cast cement stairs in the garage leading to the basement. The house was modular, and meant to be built over a crawlspace, so it came from the factory with an exterior 1/3 height metal door (gaskets, locksets and all) below floor level to provide access under the house. Friend likes his tools :) and wanted a shop down there, so he did the basement and garage access thing, in addition to the half-access on the other side of the house. (It's great for putting long stock through.) Point is, the whole gettup passed BI. His only lament: water from melting snow from the vehicles in the garage often migrates to the basement, but it's not too bad. The door is a stanley steel insulated door.
The other consideration is that you may not be allowed to have an opening into the basement too close to the floor. This is a code requirement in some areas intended to prevent flammable fumes (such as gasoline), which are heavier than air, from wafting along the floor and into the basement. Your local code official will be able to tell you what the requirement is.
Wayne,
That code is normally 4 inches minimum. This is the floor curb from the garage floor to the landing entering the stairwell (landing must be higher). 8" is better as it is a more natural step (OK 7.5" for you nitpickers out there). The reason behind the code is that gasoline fumes tend to lay on the floor and if not blocked by something will enter the basement area. It also blocks any water from the garage floor from entering the basement.
Mark
I'm not an expert on this topic by any means but from what I understand from the options considered you're most likely to lose floor space in the garage to install a pre-formed staircase and bilco type door.
Would it seem worthwhile to explore whether a steel plate could be installed in the floor over an opening leading straight down to the level of the basement? Say if it was 2' square or 3' square, flush with the concrete surface, in its own steel frame. I envision that you could simply drop the logs down the opening into the basement and later go into the basement and remove the fallen logs to stack them someplace.
The opening underneath might match up with the wall of the basement which would be opened equal to the width of the steel cover with a vertical corridor constructed equal with the dimensions of the steel cover plate.
Would probably need a steel frame fabricated and installed on a foundation like structure in order to support the weight of the garage floor especially with the weight of a car or two on it. Sounds like a job for a structural engineer. Sounds expensive too.
Maybe a walkway around the side of the house to the back might be an easier and cheaper way of getting the wood into the basement. A cart on your garden tractor or a darden wagon could carry enough of a load each time to make the trip efficient.
TenPenny
There is a home builder here in Iowa City, Iowa that puts basement steps from the garage in a lot of the houses he builds. I dont remember seeing any curb on them but I could be wrong about that, seems like a very handy thing for just the reasons that you and others have mentioned. Could check to see how code dictates what needs to be done, but of course that would'nt help in your area.
Doug