Garage Attic Access

Retired-Guy

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Well, now that I've had some time to think about it I won't be going with a ladder. The attic is not meant for storage anyways so I think I'll continue to use the sheet rock cover and add some weight to it (2x4s with insulation and plywood) and a couple of latches to keep it in place.

All of the soffits and ridge cap are vented, so I'm guessing it was just the strong winds causing the issue. It's happened before, but never for an extended period like this. Thanks for all the suggestions. My future shop will definitely have an attic ladder though.

I installed a pair of screen door hooks and eyes on mine and have never had another issue. I do not use it for storage at all. Like Short says, if it has to be stored up there its not needed so get rid of it.
 


CJR

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Just set a little bit of weight on it. Don't do what I did...middle of summer mine does the banging in a thunderstorm. I look around the garage to see what is heavy and something I don't use. I see a six pack of some god awful shasta pop. Set that up on the sheetrock cover. Alls good until Early December. It looks like brown snot dripping off the cover...never crossed my mind that it would freeze up there.
 

snow

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Make sure that you talk to your truss supplier and let him know that you want to store stuff in the attic. He can design the trusses to have an open bay down the center (I have one for a horizontal furnace for the second floor.) Also he can reinforce the truss connections to carry extra load and could use a 2x6 bottom chord to add strength to carry extra load. Won't add much to the cost to do it right and to code.


Agree ^^ built my big ass detached 50'x 40' with "storage trusses" with 6'X12 roof pitch for head room, complete with 3/4" plywood attic floor rigged lights up top,access thru a 4x4 center ceiling cubby hole screwed sheet rock to the plywood cover when I insulated and sheet rocked the garage just push it up /outof the way 12' ceiling,20 years ago my 8' ladder was used to store seasonal stuff (and crap) mostly decoys and fishing gear but today my knee's are shot.(old age) ladder access ain't happening so the attic is useless to me now but soon I'll be selling my house and moving west so I'm sure someone will find the attic useful.
 
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Dirty

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Make sure that you talk to your truss supplier and let him know that you want to store stuff in the attic. He can design the trusses to have an open bay down the center (I have one for a horizontal furnace for the second floor.) Also he can reinforce the truss connections to carry extra load and could use a 2x6 bottom chord to add strength to carry extra load. Won't add much to the cost to do it right and to code.


YES!!! I should have mentioned that, and we did do that. Great point.
 

JayKay

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I installed it 20 years ago so I can’t remember ;) Looks like it weighs 59 lbs. I would say that either I followed the instructions OR I might have used a temporary brace or clamp to hold it.

I have the same kind. Didn't install it myself, but I did install one at my folks house years. One guy in the attic, one guy below. No big problems. Do shim and BOLT the frame in place. Don't use screws. The weight of the ladder, plus you, plus whatever you're carrying, adds up pretty quickly. No reason to cut corners when installing it.

The 12 ft ceiling height does warrant thought. Gotta make sure you have the right model.

Also, they install between the bottom chords of the trusses. Keep this orientation in mind, when locating the ladder. You don't want to have to move vehicles every time you want to pull the ladder down.

Regarding how hard they are to open, it shouldn't be an issue. I have to pull down pretty hard on mine to get it to open. Even yesterday, I didn't notice it pounding with air pressure.

And I did lose a couple sections of fence yesterday, so that was a pretty good blow.

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Just set a little bit of weight on it. Don't do what I did...middle of summer mine does the banging in a thunderstorm. I look around the garage to see what is heavy and something I don't use. I see a six pack of some god awful shasta pop. Set that up on the sheetrock cover. Alls good until Early December. It looks like brown snot dripping off the cover...never crossed my mind that it would freeze up there.

Ouch. That would not have occurred to me either.
 


ORCUS DEMENS

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ndbwhunter try a wood frame with an foam insulated plywood hatch cover. you could use latches or velcro to secure it and the insulation above will work better than a piece of drywall. Easy to make and prevents heat loss through gaps.
 

Allen

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If you don't really want to use the attic as storage, you could take that piece of sheetrock down that serves as the hatch cover, reinforce it with plywood on the topside, add a layer of polystyrene insulation, and install hinges along with a latch to keep it closed.

I did this at my last place and then just accessed the attic via a ladder. Note, I did place some plywood up there for cold storage of bins for Christmas lights, etc. So it wasn't like I needed to get up there very often. If I did need to use it more frequently, I would have went with the pull down ladder style.

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note: You would also want to add some mechanism to hold the door out of the way when open. In my case it was a simple string over to a hook.
 

shorthairsrus

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You think everyone is using blown insulation?

no but even if not insulated the vents alone draw in dust --- i will take a 6 foot hot blonde milf with full blown covid breathing on my face and nibbling on my ear over that damn dust.
 

guywhofishes

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I replaced a bathroom fan this weekend. The rain of ancient blown insulation on me was really fun.

Its why I used only foam board and blanket in my garage. I store stuff up there and there’s very little dust. Hot and cold - but dust isn’t too bad.
 

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