Need some suggestions

[jaymelgarage]

I have a 16wx24lx17h steel building, made of 22 gauge Galvalium. I put a 16wx12ft long, 10ft high loft in it and need access to that loft. I have been looking around for ideas for stairs, the catch is I need foldable stairs that I can then hoist up out of the way. I have a maximum 16 ft run fully extended or I will not be able to hoist it out of the way. I have seen a few ideas but I need building plans for the staircase to make this happen.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a possible idea.

 

[padroo]

How often will you be using the stairs and what will you be using it for?

 

[Dr Stan]

I like the idea of the folding stairs/ladder. I would include a hand rail that can fold right along with the steps.

Another approach would be to use a spiral staircase to the left or right of the door.

 

[kbs2244]

I do not like hinges in stairway stringers.
It too much of a fail point.

Do a search.
We had a post of a well done swing down stair way in the last few months.
Pivot point was in the joists.

 

[tvtaurus]

Parts Loft?

What about something like this?

 

[Voi]

Found this on YouTube while research loft ladders.

http://safestairway.com/

 

[jaymelgarage]

How often will you be using the stairs and what will you be using it for?

They will be for access to the loft for carrying things going into storage in the loft. Only used occasionally.

 

[jaymelgarage]

I like the idea of the folding stairs/ladder. I would include a hand rail that can fold right along with the steps.

Another approach would be to use a spiral staircase to the left or right of the door.

A spiral staircase will not work as the loft is "L Shaped" 16x12 and 4x12 with a 10ft wide Garage door.

 

[jaymelgarage]

Parts Loft?

What about something like this?

With my calculations stairs would end up being 9.5' rise for a 4.5' run and that's way to steep, with way to small of steps.

 

[timewarp]

With my calculations stairs would end up being 9.5' rise for a 4.5' run and that's way to steep, with way to small of steps.

In your first post you said you had 16' run?
But if your loft is 12' and the building is 24' don't you have 12' of run?

 

[jaymelgarage]

In your first post you said you had 16' run?
But if your loft is 12' and the building is 24' don't you have 12' of run?

Sorry I meant the max length of the stairs fully extended could be 16ft. Meaning folded in half (8 ft). There are things above the garage door.

 

[jaymelgarage]

Any suggestions?

 

[Voi]

Any suggestions?

Have you ever climbed an alternating stair ship's ladder? That would shorten your run considerably.

With my calculations stairs would end up being 9.5' rise for a 4.5' run and that's way to steep, with way to small of steps.

So you're saying 9.5' rise and 4.5' run gives you a straight run of stairway that could hinge up to the horizontal position and not have to be folded?

That should be around 65 degrees and is reasonable for an alternating stair ladder and would give you full or close to full tread depth.

[EDIT] Just read earlier posts and you said 16' could hinge up without being folded? Then your math above doesn't make sense or I made an error somewhere.

A stairway that climbs 9.5' with a stringer length of 16' would have a run much greater than 4.5'. Can you draw some simple sketches or post some pictures and describe the numbers?

 

[FullRaceMerc]

A rough drawing of your existing layout might help to figure something out.

First thought is to hinge the steps & swing them up into the non loft overhead space.

Sorta like this:

 

[bczygan]

Install a lift.

 

[jaymelgarage]

Install a lift.

I don't want to connect a lift to the 22 gauge steel.

 

[jaymelgarage]

A rough drawing of your existing layout might help to figure something out.

First thought is to hinge the steps & swing them up into the non loft overhead space.

Sorta like this:

That's what I would have liked to do but I don't think I would have enough space for that without them being hinged stairs.

 

[jaymelgarage]

Here is a diagram of the garage. I finally got the size of the picture somewhat usable.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/13/fc/fd/13fcfd3a8d3ea00d9e99019b8748657a.jpg

 

[FullRaceMerc]

Gotcha. Not enough clear space to swing the stairway up into the free space.

How about a sliding attic stair? It slides partway up then closes flush with the ceiling. No hinges in the stringers. It could be mounted within the loft, or at the edge of the loft to save as much loft space as possible.

A quick search of "Sliding Attic Ladder" brought up a This Old House youtube vid on the subject.

 

[jaymelgarage]

That's what I would have liked to do but I don't think I would have enough space for that without them being hinged stairs.

A rough drawing of your existing layout might help to figure something out.

First thought is to hinge the steps & swing them up into the non loft overhead space.

Sorta like this:

Do you think these would work for hinge hardware?

 

[stevebertrand]

Here, if you need, the calculation table of stairs' with and height of straight staircase: http://metal-disain.com/en/katalog/proizvodstvo/ograzhdeniya/ - one it was useful for me