The Man Door
Lexico.com states a mandoor is “a slave who acts as the foreman of other slaves”. Thankfully we are not talking about slaves and slave foremen. In modern society, man doors are doors to the man cave. When I was a child, hell until just a few years ago, I had never heard of the word man door or man cave. Reference.com states a man door is “is a standard swing-style door that is built into a garage door. It may also be referred to as a pedestrian door, a pass door or an access door….a convenient way to enter a garage without having to raise or lower the entire garage door, thus preserving privacy and conserving energy. In addition to protecting the contents of the garage from view.”
The man door. What a concept. The Shop Box has a man door and since Boxes in Fields resides within hurricane alley, the man door must have a man hatch. Ha! Man hatch. Even better. Makes me think of old men driving in their old 1990 boats of a car. The types of cars with hoods so large helicopters could land on them. Just a random thought there. As I was saying, the man door needs to be protected from potential hurricanes with a man hatch.
The man hatch is made from 2″x2″ square tubing. It will house the section of conex removed for the man door and will attach with several pins on the outside of the shop. Nothing about the man hatches are standard since conex buildings are not standard. Man hatch hinges were attached to the outside of the box with standard trailer hinges. Standard trailers as in reefers, 18 wheelers, heavy trucks, etc… Not standard trailers that can be bought at the local hardware store. The second half of the hinge will attach to the man hatch frame and will be secured with a pin. Think of how the average door hinge works but on a much larger industrial grade.
Moving, hanging, securing the hatch is not an easy process as the door is large, heavy, and bulky. Every available resource was used. When that did not work, additional resources were ordered. Gotta love Amazon. Order one day, delivered and received in mail box two days later. Industrial grade, heavy duty, badass magnets. These magnets are not your run of the mill, located in the hobby section or home section of the local box or hardware store. These magnets are neodymium magnets, some of the strongest magnets ever created. This one magnet, a little larger than the size of a nickel, is 3/4″ x 3/16″ and has a pull rating of 15 pounds. What this means to the average person, is order to pull this magnet off its holding position takes 15 pounds of force. Cool! Even cooler is the fact these super strong magnets are a relatively new discovery. They are so new in fact, they are younger than me. Wish I was this cool.
The tube frame was cross braced only to maintain square during the assembly process. Upon its removal, the corten steel (the official name of the conex material) was placed inside the tube frame, tacked, and then welded into place. The corten steel from the top of one ridge to the valley of the next ridge is just less than two inches. Hence the reason, 2″x2″ tubing was used. The flat stock welded to the outside of the tube frame allows the hatch to sit flush with the man door while securing it tightly against the original 2″x6″ frame. Think of a shoe box: the top lid fits snugly against in the inside box. Secured with a final latch, and one hurricane resistant man hatch protecting the man door. Now it just needs to be painted and hung. Really have to stay on top of rust prevention if Boxes in Fields is going to subside in a metal box in a rusty environment.