KAFA Aluminum Floor Access Door

The KAFA is a removable aluminum floor access door for openings in finished floors: cleanouts, shut-off valves, pull boxes, sump pits, trench and utility runs. Aluminum keeps it light enough to lift by hand at the smaller sizes and gives it corrosion resistance in wash-down areas and plant rooms, where a painted steel panel would be showing rust by the second year.

Four panels, one for each floor finish

The panel is what makes this door disappear into the floor, so choose it by the finish going down around it.

• Recessed 1/8 inch takes resilient tile infill, so the floor covering carries straight across the door and the only interruption is the perimeter joint. This is the choice for corridors, lobbies and any occupied space with a tiled or vinyl floor.
• Smooth plate leaves a clean flat aluminum face. Use it in plant rooms and back of house areas where the floor is bare and the door is allowed to be seen.
• Abrasive coated adds a slip-resistant surface. Specify it where the door sits in a walking route, on a ramp or anywhere the floor gets wet.
• Embossed diamond pattern gives a traditional diamond plate face with grip and a hard-wearing surface, the usual pick in workshops, loading areas and service corridors.

Frame, seal and fixing

The frame is extruded aluminum with die cast corner connectors and is set with a rubber cork strip seal, which is what closes the joint between frame and floor and stops the frame drumming under foot traffic. Panels are secured with stainless steel flat head machine screws rather than hinged, so the panel lifts out completely and leaves the full opening clear. That matters when the access below is a valve gang or a pull box that needs two hands and a straight approach.

Frames are designed to set into the floor build-up at first fix. The frame opening runs 2 1/2 inches larger than the clear opening and the panel 2 inches larger, so set the structural opening from the drawing rather than from the door size.

Sizes and ordering

Five standard sizes: 12 x 12, 18 x 18, 24 x 24, 30 x 30 and 36 x 36 inches, with shipping weights from 11 pounds up to 75 pounds. The full table with metric equivalents is below. Karp builds floor doors to order, and special sizes and modifications are available on request, so send the opening dimension and the floor build-up and the sales team will come back with a specification.

Where the door has to carry a rated load, specify from the KFD range instead. The KFD-SD is rated at 300 pounds per square foot and the KFD-HD at H20 loading for vehicle traffic.