Prevent a Crawl Space Door from Warping

Question

I moved into a renovated house 2 years ago. The crawl space door looked custom. A frame of boards and a "face" of parallel boards.

Unfortunately the door has warped and let critters in!

The frame still looks good to me. I'm a novice so I could be wrong.

If I were to replace this door with something from scratch, how do I stop it warping?

Easiest thing to do would be add another latch near the bottom and latch both top and bottom. Not a big bother because you only open this to get into the crawl space. It's not like a door you use multiple times, every day. — RMDman, Commented Apr 24 at 22:51
Based on comments and answer, I'm going to add (not shown in my picture) door jambs. I'll also add a latch at the bottom part of the door to force it closed. Much cheaper than getting a whole new door. Thanks all! — JohnFilleau, Commented Apr 30 at 9:08

Michael Karas · Accepted Answer · 2024-04-25 00:31:48Z

2

You could improve the existing door by making a few inexpensive changes.

Add 1"x2" wood door stops around the frame in the place where the door will close to when it is flush on the outside of the frame.
The stop will prevent any part of the door passing into the frame farther than it should even if the door is warped.
The stop will also help close the crack between the frame and door edge.
Add an additional latch near the bottom of the door to permit pushing the warped door against the stop and holding it in place.
If the door should ever start to warp the other way you can add a latch near the top.

Note that if the door has existing cross pieces that hold the vertical boards together it may be necessary to either:

Notch the stops so that the cross pieces let the stop fit against the whole edges of the door. .or. .
Cut the ends off the cross pieces the thickness of the stops plus a little more for clearance.

answered Apr 25 at 0:31

Michael Karas♦

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I almost wrote out the exact thing. The other piece of advice is to not have wood meant for interior use, used for a door. But alas we are there so let's go with it.
– DMoore
Commented Apr 25 at 3:52
At a certain point, I think you have to just accept that wood exposed to the elements (and sometimes not) will warp.
– Huesmann
Commented Apr 25 at 11:58
1

Nice answer. Option: if you want just one latch, move it to the middle between the hinges rather than high up on the door, so any warping is distributed between the two ends instead of mostly at one end. Oh, and paint the door with a much heavier paint to keep moisture out of the wood.
– KMJ
Commented Apr 25 at 13:17

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