Waterproof hatches in external wall

[Drew Peebles]

Hi, We have a holiday home in France that we are renovating. The summers can be glorious but when it rains, it rains! We want to be able to store the cushions from garden furniture in a watertight way, but it has to be practical i.e. close to the pool. In reality bringing them into the house won't happen...

I am building a feature wall/cabinet by the pool. There is a concrete base and I shall construct a structure from blocks (faced with porcelain tile), about 10m long, 1.5m high and 1m wide. Some of this will enclose the pool equipment (pump, filter); but there will be a lot of storage space within which we want to store the cushions.

I think we'll need to store them in bins/plastic boxes anyway for additional watertightness... But I'd like the structure to be as dry inside as possible too. How would you construct watertight access hatches in a structure like this? They would only need to be as big as the storage bins so perhaps 3ft square or similar. Maybe timber battens, lots of mastic, and screw a ready-built access hatch (such as boat deck hatch, or an electrical/gas compartment hatch?) to them?

Thank you for ideas!

 

[JohnD]

It's more usual to provide ventilation to outbuildings so the damp can escape.

 

[jj4091]

Put drop down bottom hinged or lift off access doors in the front instead of on the top. it will be a lot easier to make it weatherproof