Cutting A Loft Board Access Hole

If flooring out your roof space you will need to use loft board and, more than likely, you will want to ensure that pipes or cabling under the flooring is easily accessible.

But, when using a large sheets of material such as chipboard it isn’t always easy, or practical, to ensure convenient access underneath the flooring. A simple way around this is to cut a hole, or rather a hatch, to allow speedy access whenever it is needed.

The perfect tool for this kind of job is a router fitted with a ‘routabout’ jig.

This jig will allow the access hole to be effortlessly cut into the loft board and is quite easy to use. This tool consists of a base plate which acts as a guide for the router to follow to create a perfect circle of 250mm diameter.

The procedure for actually cutting the hole is fairly simple.

Firstly mark the location of the access hole on the loft board before screwing the base plate of the jig into position. Then move the router around the base plate until the whole of the circle is cut.

Lifting the base plate will remove the cut portion of the chipboard leaving a perfectly formed circle. This ‘disc’ of wood will act as the hole cover or hatch.

Supplied with the jig is a plastic ring. This ring will fit snugly around the circumference of the hole creating a fitting which will support the cut disc of chipboard which is simply dropped back into position.

Nothing needs to be nailed, screwed or glued and the finished hatch is very strong with the floor not being weakened in any way.

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