Making a trapdoor with a tiled floor?

[Sonyman]

I have my 25mm plywood down and a section cut for a trapdoor to gain access to gas pipes etc. I am going to tile the floor this weekend, but unshure of how to make the trapdoor with the tiles. The plywood is screwed down at the moment, and would it need to secured once the tiles are on to prevent any movement.

Any ideas please?
Thanks

 

[gcol]

Do you really need access to the pipes?
I'm assuming you mean a hinged door here - it's not gonna be easy or invisible. You're gonna have to have hinges sticking proud of a grout line and some sort of flush catch so you can lift it up. Otherwise, I suppose you could just make a square door that just sits in a hole (see below) and you could lift it with suction cups. Either way you're still gonna have gaps where the grout should be. If you could make the door the same size as a tile or a set of tiles then this could be the way to go. (Note: tiles not shown - only the grout line positions are shown)

 

[JohnD]

It is possible to use a hinge where the knuckle does not protrude (as is used on Kitchen cabinets for example) but you would have to make sure all the weight was taken by the rebate, as these hinges are not very strong.

You could also make a screw-down panel with no hinges. I think that would be better - it's not going to be coming up very often, is it? Best made to match the tile size and just accept that the grout or silicone round it has to be redone after opening.

How will you lift the panel out? no handle, I presume

Edited - my mistake - I see Gcol has covered all this already

 

[Sonyman]

Thanks for the replies.
The trapdoor is needed to gain access to the pipes, but only rarely, say once in a blue moon sort of time.
The plywood, although screwed at the moment does rest on 2 joists and 2 noggins, so is well supported all round.
Yes I'll probably make or cut tiles to suit size of board and see what else I can come up with

Thanks again