Millions of homeowners around the country complain of the same thing – not having enough storage space in the home. For whatever reason, it is common for people to miss opportunities of storage upwards, which means that often the attic is nothing more than wasted space. Even if an attic were unfinished, as long as plywood was placed in between the floor joists on which boxes could be placed, this would be an excellent solution.
If you are among this group of homeowners and want to use all potential storage areas to include the attic, the first thing you need to consider is how you would get inside, as well as move items into the attic to store. The best option would be to install attic stairs. With this, folding stairs would make it possible to get into the attic but without the stairs taking up any room in the actual home.
The installation of attic stairs is something you could handle. While you may need the assistance of a friend or family member in positioning the stairs until they are secured, the majority of the work could be done alone. Prior to buying folding stairs, you would need to complete a few tasks. Otherwise, you could spend good money on stairs that would be useless.
For starters, look into the attic to determine the direction in which the floor joists go but also the amount of space between them. Then, be sure to measure the ceiling height so you would know the length of staircase to buy. These measurements are important in that attic ladders are installed in the void space between joists. The majority of attic stairs sold measure 22 inches wide. Therefore, the floor joists would need to measure 2 x 10 inches with 24 inches being in the center.
After taking measurements, you would then need to decide on the best place in the home for the attic stairs to be installed. Often, people will choose the garage, which is fine but when making this decision, make sure it would be convenient for getting in and out of the attic and that the location would provide enough width so with the stairs unfolded, getting around them would be easy. Therefore, also consider hallways outside the kitchen, inside a laundry room, etc.
After determining the best location, use a standard hammer to poke a hole through the ceiling in that area. To mark the opening, we recommend you stick a red rag or something else easily seen into the hole. Now, from inside the attic, you would need to use a marker or utility knife to cut through the ceiling so the four corners of the opening could be marked. It is imperative the attic floor joint framework be followed. Once each corner has been marked, drive a long nail through the hold the position.
To avoid a mess or even damaging the floors or furniture, place a plastic or fabric drop cloth under the area where the attic stairs would go. With the nails driven through from inside the attic, you want to snap a chalk line from corner to corner so you end up with a square that would be removed. For this, use a drywall saw, taking care to cut along the chalk line you just created. When done, the piece of ceiling would simply be popped out, exposing an opening into the attic.
As a part of this new opening, the floor joists already in the attic would be used for the opening’s long sides but for the shorter headers, these would need to be cut and installed. To accomplish this, cut 2 x 10-inch boards so they would fit between the joists perpendicularly. With this step of the process, make sure the tops of the boards sit flush to the floor joists already in the attic, followed by securing them in place with appropriate length nails.
Next, keep the ladder of the new stairs folded up but then angle them from below so the ends rest temporarily on the new ledgers. If you notice any gaps between the floor joists and ladders, or see they are not square and level, gently tamp a shim into place. Once done, secure the ladder with three inch nails into the hinges.
One important note is that before adjustments would be made to the ladder’s feet, the ladder should be opened fully to look at the way they hit the floor. The goal would be for the feet to rest flat on the floor so the unfolded ladder would provide an even surface on which to climb. Once the position is correct, the adjustable bolts would be repositioned and tightened. After the new stairs have been installed, trim would be installed around the outside perimeter so the opening of the stairs would not be noticeable.
