GB2264741A - Ceiling access door and method for its fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

A ceiling access door assembly for providing access to either conventional timbered and plasterboarded ceilings or suspended ceilings comprises an access door 1 and a frame 2. The frame 2 is a rigid metal frame with an out-turned metal flange 7 around its lower outer edge, the flange 7 preferably being formed as a tapering fillet provided with a bead 8 as a plastering guide. The door 1 is pivotally mounted in the frame 2 so that when closed a metal edge bead 13 of the door is coplanar with the lower outer edge of the frame 2. The access door of the invention reduces the degree of on-site skill necessary to produce the aesthetically pleasing appearance of a nearly invisible access door. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE: Ceiling Access Door and Method for its Fitting DESCRIPTION: Field of the Invention The invention relates to ceiling access doors for either conventional timbered and plasterboarded ceilings or suspended ceilings. The invention also relates to the method of fitting such access doors into the ceilings.

Prior Art The provision of access doors or access panels in conventional timbered and plasterboarded ceilings has generally involved on-site joinery work. A joiner provides a wooden frame in the ceiling joist structure around an opening in the ceiling, and edges that opening with timber or plastics architraving. An access panel then either rests on the architraving or can be pivoted or hinged as a trap-door so as to pivot upwardly or downwardly.

The provision of access doors in suspended ceilings has also involved the fabrication in situ of a frame to define the ceiling opening. In this case the frame is of metal, and includes pivot bearing members on which a subsequently installed access door is- pivotally suspended.

Both of the above systems of assembly require the on-site services of a skilled artisan who has to fabricate the frame around the opening to precisely the size of the access door itself. For downwardly pivoting access doors there must be some small clearance, probably of the order of 1 to 3 mm, between the door and the frame, and the aesthetic appeal of the finished installation is very dependent on the skill of the artisan in making that clearance both small and uniform around the periphery of the access door. For example, an installation in which the clearance is 2 mm all round has an immeasurably more acceptable aesthetic appearance than one in which the clearance varies, around the periphery of the door, from 1 mm to 3 mm.The accuracy to which the fitter tries to work increases for those ceiling access doors in which the access door lies in the plane of the ceiling to give a substantially uninterrupted planar appearance from below.

The Invention It is an object of the invention to provide a ceiling access door, and a method of fitting it into the ceiling, which reduces the degree of on-site skill necessary and which creates an aesthetically pleasing finish.

The invention provides an assembly comprising a ceiling access door and frame which is factory-assembled before being transported to an installation site, the frame comprising a rigid metal frame with an out-turned metal flange around its lower outer edge, and the access door comprising a metal edge bead around the edges of a door panel, the access door being pivotally mounted in the frame so that in the closed position of the door the metal edge bead of the door and the lower outer edge of the door frame are coplanar.

To fit the ceiling access door assembly of the invention on-site, all that is necessary is to cut an opening in the ceiling between two ceiling joists, offer up the assembly to the opening and secure the assembly to the ceiling joists by fixings extending laterally through the frame. The fixings may be nails or screws. The original opening in the ceiling need not be particularly accurately cut, since any edge irregularities will be covered by the out-turned metal flange of the frame.

Preferably the out-turned flange of the frame is a tapering fillet which is provided with a bead, as a plastering guide, around the frame opening. After fixing the assembly in position in the opening, the joIn between the tapering fillet and the ceiling is preferably taped and then covered with a plaster skim.

If the door itself has a plasterboard panel retained in position by the edge bead. then the junction between that edge bead is preferably also a tapering fillet which is taped and covered with a similar plaster skim.

If desired a pair of access doors may be provided in a single frame.

The pivotal connection between the door and the frame is preferably a sliding pivot arrangement similar to that described in our British Patent Specification No.

1568673, since such a sliding pivot arrangement enables the door to be made with a very close tolerance to the frame, allowing only a small clearance between the door and the frame, which clearance can be made uniform around the whole perimeter of the door.

DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a plan view from below of an installed ceiling access door assembly according to the invention with one opening door; Figure 2 is a plan view from below of an installed ceiling access door assembly according to the invention with two opening doors; Figure 3 is a vertical section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 1 or Figure 2; Figure 4 is a vertical section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1 or Figure 2; Figure 5 is a vertical section taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 1 with a metal faced door; and Figure 6 is a vertical section taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 2 with metal-faced doors.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, it will be understood that when the doors of the assembly are installed in a ceiling, it is desirable for the installation to be as invisible as possible. That means that ideally the bottom surface of the doors 1 should be in the same plane as the bottom surface of the ceiling 2, and the clearance around the edges of each door, between the door and the frame, should be as small and as uniform a clearance as possible.

Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the construction of a door and frame assembly of the invention, installed in a conventional timber and plasterboard ceiling.

The door 1 is pivotally mounted in the frame 3 by means of a sliding pivot arrangement 4 similar to that of GB 1568673. The pivot arrangement 4 is described below in greater detail.

The frame 3 is constructed as a rigid frame with four side walls 5 each of which has an inturned flange 6 at the top for rigidity and an out-turned flange 7 at the bottom. The out-turned flange 7 is formed as a tapering fillet for plastering over, and comprising a perforated strip of metal upwardly inclined at a shallow angle from the frame side walls 5 and continuously joined to the side walls 5 by a plastering bead 8.

The door 1 illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 is faced with a plasterboard panel 9. An alternative, metal-faced, door 1 is shown in Figures 5 and 6. The door of Figures 3 and 4, however, comprises four edge strips 10 secured to and depending from a metal top panel 11. Each edge strip 10 terminates in a bottom flange 12 overlying the plasterboard panel 9 as a tapering fillet. As with the frame, the junction between each flange 12 and its edge strip 10 is formed as a plastering bead 13.

If desired, the door can be transported onto site minus its plasterboard panel 9 and minus one of its edge strips 10. On site, a piece of plasterboard is cut to size, slid into the slot provided by the flanges 12 of the three secured edge strips 10 and secured in position by means of the fourth edge strip 10 or by means of a screw S through the plasterboard panel into the structure of the door. Even without its facing panel 9, however, the door 1 is rigid and accurately fits the recess in the frame.

The sliding pivot arrangement 4 of the door 1 comprises a pair of an arcuate or generally arcuate slots 14 in flange members 15 upstanding from the top panel 11 and receiving a pair of aligned stub shafts 16 or a continuous shaft (not shown) projecting inwardly between opposite sides of the frame 3. As the door 1 is lowered, it pivots around the shafts 16 and at the same time slides, with the shafts 16 traversing the arcuate slots 14. This allows the edge of the door 1 adjacent the pivot axis to be brought very close indeed to the corresponding edge of the frame 3 without fouling the frame during door opening and closing and without having any hinge exposed.

To fit the door and frame assembly of Figures 3 and 4 into a ceiling, a hole must be created in the ceiling -panels mearginally larger than the frame 3, so that the frame and door assembly can be offered up into the hole from below. There must be a timber joist or cross-member 17 alongside the two opposite sides of the frame 3 parallel to the shafts 15 and pivot axis, but a reasonable degree of tolerance is allowed because any gap can be packed with timber or plasterboard packing 17a (Figure 3). A preliminary fixing of the door and frame assembly is provided by screws 18 driven through the flange 7 of the frame 3 and the plasterboard panels of the ceiling 2 into the ceiling joists or cross-members 17.The door 1 is then opened, and final fixing of the frame 3 is achieved by nails or srews 19 driven horizontally through the upright portions of the frame 3 into the ceiling joists or cross-members 17.

Finishing of the assembly is by covering the junctions of the tapering fillets of the frame 3 and door 1 with plasterer's tape and working a skim of plaster over the ceiling and the access door. The edge beads 8 and 13 of the frame 3 and door 1 provide clean straight guide edges for that plastering, and on completion the door 1 is perfectly coplanar with the rest of the ceiling 2 and has an edge clearance that is factory controlled and not subject to on-site variations.

Figures 1 and 2 both show'schematically, for each door 1, a lock or latch opening 20. The lock or latch may be of any conventional construction, and one such. lock for a single door is shown schematically in Figure 5. In the case of a double door assembly like that of Figures 2 and 6, a removable cross-piece 21 may be provided mid-way across the frame 3, against which the lock mechanism engages.

The doors 1 of Figures 5 and 6 have metal faces, to illustrate that the door can have a variety of constructions and the invention is not limited to plasterboard faced doors as shown in Figures 3 and 4.

Whatever the door facing, the door is preferably filled with mineral wool (not shown) between the top panel and the facing panel, for thermal insulation.

Claims (5)

1. CLAIMS:

   l. An assembly comprising a ceiling access door and frame, the frame comprising a rigid metal frame with an out-turned metal flange around its lower outer edge, and the access door comprising a metal edge bead around the edges of door panel, the access door being pivotally mounted in the frame so that in the closed position of the door the metal edge bead of the door and the lower outer edge of the door frame are coplanar.
2. 2. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the outturned flange of the frame is a tapering fillet which is provided with a plastering guide bead around the frame opening.
3. 3. An assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the door panel is a plasterboard panel retained in position by the metal edge bead.
4. 4. An assembly according to claim 3, wherein the junction between the metal edge bead of the door and the door panel is a tapering fillet.
5. 5. A ceiling access door assembly substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.