Trapdoors are very useful solid block that can you craft and use in Minecraft. It is best used on the floor instead of doors, but you can use it for much more than its original purpose.
They are useful as decoration and detail in many builds, but they can also be used in redstone circuitry as well as to make you crawl in Minecraft.
Making a trapdoor is very easy and useful and we will cover the basics here in this article.
Where Trapdoors Generate in Minecraft
Usually trapdoors are not all that abundant in the world of Minecraft.
Most of them can be found on or inside shipwrecks which can be found in sea and ocean biomes. They make up the structure.
Igloos and villages are another place you can find wooden trapdoors.
Iron trapdoors, which work a little differently than the wooden ones, can only be found naturally generating in Ancient Cities. Though, venturing that deep into a cave to mine them is not a worth while expedition.
Minecraft Wooden Trapdoor Recipe
- 6 wooden plank blocks
Crafting a wooden trapdoor is fairly easy. It only requires you to have 6 of the same wooden plank blocks and arrange them in a rectangle on the crafting table.
This recipe will yield 2 trapdoors.
However, different wood can not be mixed to make a trapdoors and you always have to use the same type of wood block.
Each type of wood you can harvest in the game can be made into a trapdoor and it has its own unique design to it.
This means there are 9 different trapdoor designs and colors.
Minecraft Iron Trapdoor Recipe
- 4 iron ingots
Crafting an iron trapdoor is a little different than crafting a wooden one, but it is more cost efficient if you have your hands on plenty of iron.
It only requires 4 ingots and it can be crafted directly in your inventory as well. Though, these door act a little different than a regular trapdoor, more of which we will discuss below.
This recipe is enough for just 1 trapdoor.
How Trapdoors Work in Minecraft
Like I had mentioned, wooden trapdoors work differently from iron trapdoors and that is the main difference between them, other than their looks.
All trapdoors can be placed down vertically and horizontally, on top of solid blocks or left floating on their own. Depending on how you have placed it, the trapdoor will place itself on the top or bottom part of a block.
The direction the trapdoor opens also depends on its placement; place it on top of the block and the door will open down, place it on the bottom and it will open upward.
Now, the difference we mentioned earlier between wooden and iron trapdoors is the way you open them.
Wooden trapdoors can be opened by simply right clicking on them. Iron trapdoors, however, need to be activated by redstone power in order to open, similarly to how iron doors have to as well. This can be done with a button, pressure plate, or a lever.
Additionally, you can also make a much longer redstone circuit to open the trapdoor if you wish to play with circuitry.
This means that if you do not have a redstone component to activate the door you will not be able to open it and will have to destroy it if you end up getting stuck.
Other Uses for Trapdoors
Trapdoors do not always have to be used for their mechanical purpose.
Trapdoors can be used in order to stop water flow. They act as a barrier for water and can obstruct its flow whether they are ‘opened’ or ‘closed’. Observe the image below.
This can allows you many building opportunities and this is also where the next biggest usage of trapdoors comes from. Building and decorating!
My favorite way of using trapdoors on builds is to add details. They can look amazing on the side of windows as shutters or as awnings above doors. Trapdoors can also be used to make room separators or sell the illusion of a sliding door.
If you have a particularly small river they can also be used to build a small, yet sturdy, bridge!
There are many ways you can use trapdoors that are creative, rather than just making a door on the floor.
If you are interested in making a very interesting trapdoor build you can try using the trapdoors to design your own hot tub in Minecraft.
Our article provides you a simple tutorial on getting bubbles going and making it look aesthetic to boot.
