Accessing my Loft -- Staircase or Mobile Steps

[Craig Balzer]

Some of you may be following my garage build thread on Garage Galley: Craig's Colorado Car Condo (https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=432775). I plan a loft above a dirty work room and a future bathroom. It'll be half way up the 14' tall walls.

I have gone round and round in my head above how to get in the loft. The access needs to be steady, safe, and minimize usage of floor space.

I'm considering three options (right now):

1. Wooden staircase running straight along longest wall leading to loft
2. Wooden staircase with an "L" shape: a 3'x3' landing half way up wall with staircase continuing to loft from there.
3. Mobile metal steps that get stored in the corner when not needed

The staircase would be 3' wide and obviously permanent.

I've searched the web for mobile options but most are a rather steep climb and don't appear to be 3' wide:

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...gle-Rolling-Ladder-Assembled-with-12-Top-Step
https://www.grainger.com/category/m...olling-and-cantilever-ladders/rolling-ladders
https://www.globalindustrial.com/g/janitorial-maintenance/ladders/platform/custom-work-platforms

Any ideas or others sources?
Or better ideas on how to skin this cat?

TIA -- Craig

 

[txvwnut]

After having a loft and using a ladder to access it I’d build a staircase. Mobile stairs are okay but the ones I have used seemed just a bit steeper than a built-in staircase, plus they eat up floor space by having to store them somewhere in the shop.

 

[dreamingmuscle]

Fold down attic stairs. If they don't make as wide as you want order a kit a build your self.

 

[Mopar_Mudder]

Make your own and you can make it as steep and wide as you want. I need mine to be mobile, it is 36" wide.

 

[MileHighRover]

Mobile stairs are awesome when the other alternative is using a ladder. Mine are 24" wide like the ones you posted.

In your case the mobile stairs will take up nearly as much room as a fixed staircase and won't be as wide as you want.

As far as straight or L shaped with a landing, the room you have plus the items (if any) you plan to carry up the stairs will determine that.

 

[Craig Balzer]

Make your own and you can make it as steep and wide as you want. I need mine to be mobile, it is 36" wide.

Mopar -- thanx for the reply. Any regrets not putting your steps on wheels? It looks like it would be a little cumbersome to move it as-is.

Craig

 

[Craig Balzer]

Fold down attic stairs. If they don't make as wide as you want order a kit a build your self.

Dreamingmuscle -- a set of attic stairs just won't work. The loft will be 7 feet off the floor in a garage that has 14' tall walls. Thanx for the input.

 

[Lynden]

Build a loft ladder which is 3' wide and long enough to have a comfortable slope. It would store flat against the wall and the bottom would slide out when you want to use it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lof...KHVQiB2cQ9QEwBnoECAcQMg#imgrc=NaK5IdOac4wtlM:

Or maybe a kit like this would work. The maximum width is 3 feet.

https://www.fast-stairs.com/realizations/loft-stairs/

 

[matt_i]

I built a tilting staircase to my attic. Its actuated by a harbor freight cable hoist. I wanted a solid stair feel but also didn't have the room to put up a permanent one.





The "L" shape would be my choice if I built a permanent one.

 

[JamesW84]

Will you need to take heavyish items up/down often? If so a used scissor lift might be easier, and you could use it if you needed to get up high for anything else...not the cheapest route. Others have built an "elevator" with electric winches. I don't think I'd want an "L" shape because getting long stuff up there could be problematic.

 

[CraigStu]

matt i has your answer. Last house I did similar but used a 10 ft step ladder. It worked because we weren't up there very often but step ladders treads are set at an angle so the ladder is much more vertical than matt's stairs.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

I have a similar problem and for temporary access am using my 24' extension ladder which is collapsed to 12' or so. It's decently heavy though and am trying to figure out if I want to attach it to the underside of the attic for storage or not. That plus whatever I put up in the attic adds a lot of weight to the joists. I'm not sure how much a pivot down wood ladder would weight in comparison but it sure would be nice to have 2x6 steps instead of the small aluminum tube to climb up.

 

[wesst]

I used pre cut stair stringer from Menards and flipped them due to my lack of space. Basically swapped the rise and the run. I do not miss the pull down attic ladder one bit.

 

[ard]

Id take 3 feet off the end of your 'dirty room' and inset the stairs into that space... might not be 'legal' but you can put something in...maybe it comes a few feet out into the room, but in the corner...

a permanent stair will give you better access to the space, more likely to use it well and good. Plus, a moveable stair STILL needs to be stored somewhere....

 

[dreamingmuscle]

Dreamingmuscle -- a set of attic stairs just won't work. The loft will be 7 feet off the floor in a garage that has 14' tall walls. Thanx for the input.

That's exactly my shop. My loft is 7' to the bottom of the joist. I have store bought attic stairs/ladder. I only had to remove last folding piece. Then I added 2' to the bottom of the next piece to touch to floor.

They are too narrow though. I have to rope things up and down from the edge a lot of the time.

 

[pbon]

I will be adding an electric hoist for heavier stuff I want to keep upstairs out of the way. I have stairs to my second floor and pull down stairs to my attic. My finding pull down stairs are adequate but I will eventually replace them with wider, heavier duty ones. The electric hoist will go only to the 2nd floor, not the attic.

 

[Craig Balzer]

That's exactly my shop. My loft is 7' to the bottom of the joist. I have store bought attic stairs/ladder. I only had to remove last folding piece. Then I added 2' to the bottom of the next piece to touch to floor.

They are too narrow though. I have to rope things up and down from the edge a lot of the time.

Exactly my concern! -- Craig

 

[Craig Balzer]

I'd take 3 feet off the end of your 'dirty room' and inset the stairs into that space... might not be 'legal' but you can put something in...maybe it comes a few feet out into the room, but in the corner...

a permanent stair will give you better access to the space, more likely to use it well and good. Plus, a moveable stair STILL needs to be stored somewhere....

ard -- one of the options I'm considering (the L-shaped staircase with landing) is to wrap around the outside of the dirty room but it would intrude into the walk-way between the two rooms. I like your idea of a straight staircase; but am reluctant to trim space off the dirty room.

My plans for stuff in that area are already getting cramped. In the end, I may need to bite bullet and take your advise.

I have time before I need to make a decision . . . but the mobile stairs idea is starting to fade to a distant 2nd or 3rd place (primarily for the point you made above).

Craig

 

[Mopar_Mudder]

Mopar -- thanx for the reply. Any regrets not putting your steps on wheels? It looks like it would be a little cumbersome to move it as-is.

Craig

Actually ther are wheels in the back. Handles on the front you just pick it up and roll it out of the way.

 

[JRC3]

I used pre cut stair stringer from Menards and flipped them due to my lack of space. Basically swapped the rise and the run. I do not miss the pull down attic ladder one bit.

Exact same thing I did.

 

[CraigStu]

There were pull down stairs in my previous house. They were marginally OK but the top 3 or so steps sucked. The treads on all the steps were typical 4-4.5 inches deep (long?). The problem w/ the top ones was the ceiling panel (what you see when the stairs are up) was screwed right to the stringer. So going up the low ones your foot could go somewhat through the stairs and have the tread centered on your foot. But the top ones you foot couldn't go forward since it hit the panel. So you are standing essentially on your toes on that 4 in step and feeling like your foot will slide off any minute. I actually liked my step ladder in the previous house better than the fold steps.

 

[wanderer]

I built a tilting staircase to my attic. Its actuated by a harbor freight cable hoist. I wanted a solid stair feel but also didn't have the room to put up a permanent one.





The "L" shape would be my choice if I built a permanent one.

This is perfect for my basement workshop. Going up with it would give me a lot of extra room I can use, so long as I can use the other staircase. It actually would give me a ton more storage also, because it might give me access to all the wasted space at the top of the stairwell if I can figure out a platform. A fold down handrail that became a flat platform would be really cool.

 

[38Chevy454]

I have a mezzanine about 9 ft off floor level in my detached garage. I was going to just use a ladder, but my wife was concerned for carrying boxes up and down and for my safety of falling off the ladder. I went with permanent stairs and am so happy I did. Can't count the number of times I go up for one thing, or looking for something, where I would have needed to get a ladder and then put ladder away. Now just a quick trip up the stairs and i can carry boxes without fear of dropping them or losing control on a ladder. Definitely go with the permanent stairs if you can, and make it a straight shot, not with a 90 degree bend. I use the space under the stairs for storage, so it is not totally lost space. My stairs are at one end along the wall 90 degrees to the mezzanine, which is approx 8 ft wide by 40 ft length. I used the precut stringers with 2x10 stair treads, and no riser filler.

 

[Kevin54]

I would make a set of permanent stairs "L" shaped with a small landing. The lower stairs will take up less room than a set running continually up.

 

[JRC3]

I would make a set of permanent stairs "L" shaped with a small landing. The lower stairs will take up less room than a set running continually up.

But wouldn't the addition of a landing eat up even more space?