The Attic
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The Attic
Sept 2006
Has anyone had drop-down style attic stairs put into their
home? We have a rather small opening with no stairs and are
sick of hauling a ladder in and out of the house every time we
want to use it. I see online we can install stairs ourselves
but 1. we have no time, 2. we probably could use a larger
opening along with the stairs, if not a completely new opening
in another spot in the house. Looking for someone experienced
with this type of work to do it and advice from those who have
had a similar job done (or have existing steps and comments
about them). thx
Nicole
If your attic opening is near a wall, our solution might work
for you -- it's cheaper than attic stairs. We installed a metal
pipe on the wall below the opening using pipe holders so the
pipe is 2-3 inches away from, but parallel to the wall right
under the opening extending all the wall to the nearest
perpendicular wall (our pipe is about 4 feet long). We took a
wooden ladder -- just the rung side --- and installed two sets
of hooks on the back -- the lower or ''storage'' set of hooks are
placed so that when the hooks were on the pipe, the ladder hung
straight down. We slide the hooks along the pipe and push the
ladder against the wall, out of the way, when it's not in use.
The second set of hooks -- the higher or ''use'' hooks -- are
placed so that when they are on the pipe, the ladder is slanted
and ready for use. When we need the ladder we pull it out by
sliding the hooks long the pipe, we unhook it from the storage
hooks, hook the use hooks onto the pipe, and climb up the
ladder to our attic.
Good luck!
louise
We had one put in by Emmet Lynch. He's in Richmond. The installation was
functionally fine and his cost was reasonable. His finish work (spackling) was not so
hot, but to be honest, I probably failed to make that clear in my scope of work.
Unfortunately, it's hard to find a kit disappearing stair that is well constructed. We
chose one from Truitt and White which was of somewhat better quality (although
not as good as I would have preferred) than what Home Depot had.
The attic stair has made a huge difference. We hardly ever used the attic before.
Now it's crammed full of stuff!
Ray
I had aluminum fold down stairs installed in my ceiling to the
attic by Jason Griffin who is a contractor that has done lots of
window work for me. It's a pull down ladder which now gives me
an additional 700 sq ft of storage space. He installed it with
his brother who is an electrician, which was great because you
also need a light up there once you put in access. I LOVE IT! I
know Jason really well and he and his brother did a fantastic
job. He is always so thorough and consciencious. He always puts
drop cloths down and cleans up after he's done, which I really
appreciate. I would definately call him. Jason Griffin 510.384.0805
Sian
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