A trapdoor is a solid, transparent block that can be used as an openable barrier.
Obtaining
Wooden trapdoors can be mined with anything, but an axe is fastest. Iron trapdoors require a pickaxe to mine. Trapdoors will remain in place if their attachment block is moved, removed, or destroyed.
| Block | Wooden | Iron | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 3 | 5 | |
| Tool | |||
| Breaking time[A] | |||
| Default | 4.5 | 25 | |
| Wooden | 2.25 | 3.75 | |
| Stone | 1.15 | 1.9 | |
| Iron | 0.75 | 1.25 | |
| Diamond | 0.6 | 0.95 | |
| Netherite | 0.5 | 0.85 | |
| Golden | 0.4 | 0.65 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Crafting
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Wooden Trapdoor | Any Wood Planks | |
| Iron Trapdoor | Iron Ingot |
Natural Generation
A wooden trapdoor may be found leading to igloo basements.
Usage
Properties
Wooden trapdoors can be opened and closed by players. Iron trapdoors can only be opened with redstone power.
Trapdoors must be "attached" to a block to the side of them. To place a trapdoor, use a trapdoor item while pointing at the block it should be attached to.
When placed, a trapdoor will either occupy the top or bottom part of a block, depending on where the player placed the trapdoor. If a trapdoor is placed on the top part of a block, it will open downwards. If placed on the bottom part of a block, it will open upwards.
A trapdoor's "hinge" will be on the block it was attached to.
Trapdoors can be moved by pistons. Water and lava will flow around trapdoors. Lava can create fire in air blocks next to wooden trapdoors as if they were flammable, but the trapdoors will not burn up (and can't be burned by other methods either).
An open trapdoor may be climbed like a ladder if it is directly above a ladder and on the same side of the block.
The sound of opening and closing of a trapdoor can be heard up to 16 blocks away, like most mob sounds.
Barrier
A trapdoor can be used as a switchable barrier to entity movement. Although primarily used to block movement by mobs and players, a trapdoor can also be used to control the movement of boats (for example, a top trapdoor placed in a two-wide water flow will stop a boat when closed (extended out into the water flow), but allow it to move again when open), items and minecarts (a trapdoor can stop a falling item or minecart, then allow it to drop again when the trapdoor opens), etc.
Trapdoors are 0.1875 (3⁄16) blocks thick. The rest of a trapdoor's space can be moved through freely and provides a breathable space if placed underwater.
To open or close a wooden trapdoor, use the Use Item/Place Block control. When a trapdoor opens or closes, it immediately changes its orientation without affecting anything in the space it "passes through". Moving trapdoors don't push entities the way that pistons do.
Iron trapdoors can only be opened with redstone power (a button, a redstone circuit, etc.).
Mobs pathfinding considers trapdoors to always be closed, whether they are open or not. This often result in mobs falling through open trapdoors.
Redstone component
Both wood and iron trapdoors can be controlled with redstone power.
A trapdoor is a redstone mechanism and can be activated by:
- an adjacent active power component, including above or below: for example, a redstone torch, a block of redstone, a daylight sensor, etc.
- an adjacent powered block (for example, a block with an active redstone torch under it), including above or below
- a powered redstone comparator or redstone repeater facing the trapdoor
- powered redstone dust configured to point at the trapdoor or a directionless "dot" next to it; a trapdoor is not activated by adjacent powered redstone dust which is configured to point in another direction.
When activated, a trapdoor will immediately "rotate" around its hinge side to its open state. When deactivated, a trapdoor immediately returns to its closed state.
An activated wood trapdoor can still be closed by a player, and won't re-open until it receives a new activation signal (if a trapdoor has been closed "by hand", it still needs to be deactivated and then reactivated to open by redstone).
Fuel
Wooden trapdoors can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per block.
Data values
A trapdoor is defined by its ID and block data. A trapdoor also has a block state, which is expected to replace the functionality of block data in a future version.
ID
A trapdoor's ID specifies its material:
Trapdoor/ID
Block data
A trapdoor's block data specifies its orientation, positioning, and activation status:
| Bits | Values |
|---|---|
| 0x1 0x2 |
A two-bit field storing a value from 0 to 3:
|
| 0x4 | If this bit is set, the trapdoor is on the top half of a block. Otherwise, it is on the bottom half. |
| 0x8 | If this bit is set, the trapdoor is open. |
Block state
| Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| facing | north | eastnorthsouthwest | The direction the trapdoor swings open. The opposite from the side its hinge is attached to. |
| half | bottom | bottomtop | Whether the trapdoor occupies the top or bottom part of a block. |
| open | false | falsetrue | True if the trapdoor is currently open (may differ from powered). |
| powered | false | falsetrue | True if the trapdoor is currently powered (may differ from open). |
| waterlogged | false | falsetrue | Whether or not there's water in the same place as this trapdoor. |
| Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| direction | 0x10x2 | 0 | 0123 | 0123 | The direction the trapdoor is facing.
|
| open_bit | 0x8 | false | falsetrue | 01 | True if the trapdoor is currently open. |
| upside_down_bit | 0x4 | false | falsetrue | 01 | Whether the trapdoor occupies the top or bottom part of a block. |
Video
Trapdoor/video
History
| b | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6 | Added wooden trapdoors. | ||||
| 1.8 | Before this update, dropped trapdoor items looked larger than most other blocks, a bug shared with cactus. | ||||
| Sound Update | Trapdoor opening and closing sounds changed. | ||||
| release | |||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w34a | Trapdoors can be placed on the upper half of a block, opening downward, and can still be placed on the lower half, opening upward. | |||
| 12w40a | Trapdoors can no longer be opened by left-clicking, only right-clicking opens trapdoors now. | ||||
| 1.8 | 14w07a | Added iron trapdoors. | |||
| 14w08a | Iron trapdoor's name corrected from 'tile.ironTrapdoor.name' to 'Iron Trapdoor'. | ||||
| Trapdoor's name was changed to “Wooden Trapdoor”. | |||||
| 1.9 | 15w31a | Trapdoors no longer require attachment blocks. | |||
| An open trapdoor may be climbed like a ladder if it is directly above a ladder and on the same side of the block. | |||||
| 15w43a | A trapdoor has a 50% chance of generating under igloo carpets, leading to a basement. | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.4.0 | Added wooden trapdoors. They were only available in creative mode | ||||
| 0.5.0 | Added crafting recipe for wooden trapdoors. | ||||
| 0.12.1 | build 12 | Trapdoors can be placed on the upper half of a block, opening downward, and can still be placed on the lower half, opening upward. | |||
| 0.13.0 | build 1 | Added iron trapdoors. | |||
| 0.15.0 | build 1 | Trapdoors no longer require attachment blocks. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | Patch 1 | Added wooden trapdoors. | |||
| TU9 | Trapdoors can be placed on the upper half of a block, opening downward, and can still be placed on the lower half, opening upward. | ||||
| 1.0 | Added trapdoors to PlayStation 3. | ||||
| CU1 | 1.00 | Added trapdoors to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita. | |||
| TU25 | CU14 | 1.17 | Added iron trapdoors. | ||
Issues
Issues relating to "Trapdoor" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Gallery
- 2012-01-04 21.43.00.png
An example of an open trapdoor, shown with its back to a block.
- 2012-01-04 19.44.56.png
An example of a closed trapdoor, shown flat against the adjacent block.
Trapdoors on slabs.


