Bracing a cleanout door

[garthmyers]

I have my coop framed in with plywood now all i have to do is attach the cleanout doors. The doors are made of 1/2 plywood and i was wondering the best way to attch them to the coop. I know that i am going to use hinges but would like to have them swing to the side. I have seen a lot of people do this i was just wondering if you have to do anykind of bracing to keep the door from sagging. If so how did you bace it? just 2x2 in a square with the hinges attached to it or did you run an x across the door. Any help would be appriciated my wife is telling me if i don't get the chicks out of the basement this weekend i am going to be living in the coop myself.

 

[eds500]

My clean out door is approximately 28" x 35".

I framed the door with 2x4 and cross-braced with a 2x4. The paneling is hardi-board and the trim is 1x4 whiteboard, primed and painted.

I used two 4" commercial grade, exterior door hinges, secured to the 2x4 that frames the door opening. The hardi-board is heavy so I went with a heavier grade hinge.

 

[patandchickens]

If the door will be a single piece of 1/2" plywood, you need nothing to keep it sagging out of square, the rigidity of the plywood itself achieves that. You only need diagonal bracing if it's a gate or door made of multiple not-fully-joined pieces of lumber, like a wooden gate or a barnboard door.

However I would recommend putting on some lumber, at least around the edge and maybe one down the middle, to keep it from *warping*, which plywood likes to do. Plus that lumber will give you something substantial to screw or bolt your hinges into.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat