Location: Red Bank, TN
This crawlspace had an ancient rickety old door on it that was coming off the hinges and wouldn't swing freely anymore anyway due to a wonky doorframe. It was overdue for a change.
A job like this can go in a few directions. You can put something together using plywood, possibly doubled up and call it a day, you can go all the way and make a high end door out of hardwood. This, I felt was a nice compromise of cost and dimensional stability.
Lumber selection is critical. I picked from the higher grade kiln-dried lumber at Home Depot, grabbing pieces that were vertical grain or rift-sawn so the door was less likely to bend with changing humidity. Also, there isn't a single screw or nail in this thing. It's all doweled and glued together no different from any "proper" door made with mortise and tenon. Just as strong, thanks to my Dowelmax jig, and a much faster build process.
The old door had a simple wooden latch. For this one, I installed a Kwikset Smartkey exterior opener with a latch instead of a knob, so it's easy for someone with their hands full to open the door. Thanks to the Smartkey feature, the door is keyed to the same key as the home's front and back doors. All in all it works great. This door is fairly hidden from view and won't be trimmed out but that would be an easy add-on.
If you'd like a custom door like this, I can assess your current opening, fabricate the door offsite and bring it to your location to install. I can also install an off-the-shelf door that you purchase, which would likely be a bit cheaper, but have the tradeoff of being less attractive and would not use the same key as your home.
