How to tile a floor with a trapdoor in it?

Question

My kitchen floor has a trapdoor in the center of it. I would like to tile the floor (it is currently covered in lino that has seen better days). The trapdoor provides the only access to the crawlspace beneath the house. What is the best way of tiling the floor while making sure the crawlspace is still accessible?

Answer 1

toughy!!if it was me id tile over it keeping the pattern but not jointing the gaps,your guna have to cut the tiles twice in places but i cant think of another way round it. if you feel you have to joint up then use silicon or something u can remove easily of a matching colour.depends how often your guna need to get under the house

Answer 2

You will have to treat the floor and the trapdoor separately.  You can be creative with the pattern or just maintain it across the trap and leave a larger line where the door opens.

You can insert metal edging around the trapdoor facing inwards and outwards so there is a definite break that will allow the door to open.

The hinges are going to be problematic.  It might be best to remove them and put an opening ring on each end of the door.  It will take two people to remove the trap, but it's going to be heavy anyway.

The other way is to move the trap to another room if possible, secure this trap door permanently and tile over the whole floor.  Make sure the old trap door won't move or deflect when you walk on it or the new tile will crack.