Access Panel below tiled hearth...

[thommassey]

Still looking for ideas to finish this access door issue. The one on the other side was under wood floor, no issues there. But this one falls under hearth area... So I want to finish it so that if I have to get into it, the tile , cement board, plywood, insulation sandwich can be replaced easier. I have already marked each layer out. But if I have to remove 4 tiles, if I have to cut a hole in cement board, then into the ply through the foam, should I pre-cut any of these layers? I really want to keep that area as tight as possible.

I removed the steel cover plate (it was bigger than the hole) so the access hole would be just below the insulation before covering with insulation

The plywood would be ez to precut IF I have to.
The cement board is where I have the issue, would be difficult to put back as original if cut out...


I am probably over analyzing this but, hey, I want to do it the best way on small things, so I follow that thinking with larger projects... Thx Thom

[lornaschinske]

We had to remove the access panel to get to the fuel tank on our bus. Reason: the fuel float had a pin hole leak in it, We pulled the thing out, let it dry for a few days and then soldered the hole closed, reinserted it. It took longer to finagle the stupid float out of the tank than it did to fix it. I used every inch of available space the access gave me and wished it was bigger. Our access panel will be under the dishwasher. If we need to get into the tank again, pulling the dishwasher will take less time than getting the float thingy out of the tank! We figure if we sealed it up, we would definitely have to get back into it to make a repair.


Have you looked at marine deck plates? How hot will it get under your stove? If too hot for a deck plate, perhaps you should put a metal plate, screwed/bolted thru the floor.

[chev49]

I cut out the acess panel area in my floor and cut a piece of flooring, etc the same size. At least i can get to the fuel tank to work on it. Course, the main reason i cut out things for the access panel, was that if i didnt, i would forget where it was...and that could be bad.