Hi all, we are excavating under our post and pier house to make our crawlspace deeper (7') and pouring a concrete slab so that we can use that space for storage. We currently have access to our crawlspace from a door in our foundation, however this door will end up under a deck so access to our crawlspace will be difficult from this door. We had our architect design a floor hatch (inside the house)in our soon-to-be newly created hallway and he indicated having a ship's ladder to access the basement. We liked this idea because this allowed us access to the crawlspace without having to go outside.

My question is: has anyone ever seen a floor hatch access to a basement space? And is a ship's ladder something specific that I can purchase premade? Or is it simply a very steeply constructed set of stairs?

I was hoping that I could find something premade along the lines of the attic ladder stairs that come premade where you pull down the hatch and the stairs drop down. Does anyone know of something like this but for a basement?

Thanks in advance,

Kare