**Warning**Check your attic ladder ..

[Big Dad]

A friend of mine was going to put some Christmas stuff away for his wife , climbed onto his attic ladder got about half way up with a box in his hands and one leg of it snapped ..

House is less than 10 years old

He fell , landed on his side and his head slapped the floor , he is in hospital in a coma .

Doctors are not sure of extent of his injuries at this time , wait and see

I looked at my ladder and its cracked too ( hardly ever use it ? )

Look at yours if you have one and tell others

Thanks

 

[Matt M PA]

Great advice...I hate those drop down wooden stairs.

I'd add that at my parent's former house, the bolts that held the stairs together got loose alot...I regularly checked those as my Dad was fearless in scurrying up those steps.

 

[Gixerfixer]

Hope your friend pulls through, strangely enough I have recently at to replace some broken rivets on our old aluminium loft ladder, what brought this forward was the fact that we was having some new free loft insulation fitted (energy suppliers are under the hammer at the moment) and I did not want to be held responsible for any mishaps or damage to the guys installing the stuff, I will certainly go over that ladder more thoroughly after reading this, thanks for the heads up and once again hope your friend as a speedy recovery.

 

[eastbaysubaru]

That's pretty scary. What's strange is that my brother-in-law's co-worker at their restaurant did almost the same thing yesterday. Apparently he was climbing up the ladder to their storage area above the kitchen when one of the "railings" failed and he fell onto either the counter next to it or the floor. He's the first one in in the morning so when the next person came to work he was on the floor "convulsing". Luckily, he seems to be fairly OK although his back is hurting him quite a bit.

Definitely good advice to check out your attic ladders.

-Brian

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

Not only can the framework of pull-down ladders crack and break, or rung bolts getting loose-as previously mentioned (usually due to the extreme temperature changes); but my personal favorite, no nails or lags in the 'mounting holes'.
No nails through the holes provided in the metal mounting brackets.
The brackets should be secured to the attic framing and not just the
stair framing to reduce risk of disconnection. Inspectors often see
“place nail here” labels near the brackets with missing nails.
I can't count how many times a trim carpenter either forgot the nails altogether or just threw in a couple. Actually had a competitor that was having a house inspected by the county inspector. Inspector pulled down the stairs, took two steps and the whole unit hit the floor and sprung back like it was closing and got the inspector on the shin. 6-8 stitches worth.
It took an extra week for the builder to get he's final inspection.

 

[Gary S]

That is scary, but in my end of the world, the attic is full of insulation, so you don't store **** up there. The attic serves a functional purpose to make the house livable. Junk gets stored elsewhere, so people here don't even know that an attic ladder is.

 

[twincam00]

Mine has been cracked for years, way to much money to replace

 

[rwhite692]

That is scary, but in my end of the world, the attic is full of insulation, so you don't store **** up there. The attic serves a functional purpose to make the house livable. Junk gets stored elsewhere, so people here don't even know that an attic ladder is.

Grew up in NY, the house had a folding ladder in order to access the attic.

Just because you have a ladder to access the attic, doesn't mean that it is automatically being used for storage.

Nothing wrong with using an attic to store a few plastic totes of Xmas stuff.

It's the people that try to put a disassembled 65 Chevelle in their attic that wind up having issues.

 

[WOPR]

best wishes to your friend and his family.

I hate my attic ladder, every time I use it I try and prepare myself for the worst. In all reality I'll probably go flying despite my best efforts...

 

[Gary S]

Grew up in NY, the house had a folding ladder in order to access the attic.

Nothing wrong with using an attic to store a few plastic totes of Xmas stuff.
.

I don't understand how you can store **** in an attic. My attic is about 4-5' from the ceiling to the peak of the roof rafters. About 2' of that is used up with loose blown in insulation. That leaves 2-3" at the peak and nothing a few feet away from there. To store even a small box, I would have to remove the insulation, built a platform above the insulation level, and put the insulation back in there. You don't need an attic ladder when you go up there only once every 5-10 years to fix the attic fan.

 

[rwreuter]

sorry to hear that about your friend....hope he gets better soon.

i wanted a strong ladder for my attic, so i purchased an aluminum one that was rated at 350 pounds.

also to store things that are awkward or a little to heavy i have a pulley in the attic and i just attach it too a rope and pull it up. that way i am eliminating the extra weight on the stairs.

again, sorry to hear about your buddy.

 

[BigAl62]

Best wishes to your friend. I pulled my built in ladder out shortly after I bought my house about 16 years ago. I use a regular 8' step ladder rated for my weight (I'm NOT a small guy!) and I've had no problems. Thanks for the concern for your fellow GJ members!

 

[PeterT]

I just installed two in my pole barn, I am putting up metal ceiling. The ladders are 300lb rated and aluminum. The instructions say to use nails in various places, including the metal frame has some holes with arrows on them. I used 2 inch screws.
I don't plan on storing much, but if I need to ever get up there - maybe put more insulation, etc - I can just pull down the stairs. The ladders were like $140/ea and if I remember correctly made in USA.

 

[rwreuter]

the instructions said to use nails but i decided to use stainless steel screws, they are MUCH stronger.

 

[bad_idea]

stainless is not necessarily stronger than steel. stainless is corrosion resistant not overly strong.

my prayers are with your friend.

 

[PassnThru]

stainless is not necessarily stronger than steel. stainless is corrosion resistant not overly strong.

my prayers are with your friend.

And screws are also not necessarily stronger in shear if I recall correctly.

 

[rwhite692]

I don't understand how you can store **** in an attic. My attic is about 4-5' from the ceiling to the peak of the roof rafters. About 2' of that is used up with loose blown in insulation. That leaves 2-3" at the peak and nothing a few feet away from there. To store even a small box, I would have to remove the insulation, built a platform above the insulation level, and put the insulation back in there. You don't need an attic ladder when you go up there only once every 5-10 years to fix the attic fan.

Not everyone has the same size attic. It all depends upon the design of the house. My Dad's old house, had 8 feet to the roof peak from the attic "floor".

 

[shannonw]

I second that to check the ladder. My wood one has had cracks at the point where they **** up together for years. Every christmas i felt i was risking life and limb carrying the typical large boxes up and down that thing. This year i built soffit storage in the garage (not a lot of attic space in typical 80's block house with trusses) and put all the stuff there. and $5 bucks of wood and some quick routing remade my cracked pieces. The screws really work their way loose over time too.

I'd have installed a metal one if i wasn't intending on not using the attic any more except for long term storage,

HOPE YOUR FRIEND COMES OUT OK!

 

[Falcon67]

Hope your friend recovers. That is very sad to hear. When we moved in here, the ladder (stamped 2001) was pretty loose. I tightened it up and it was a lot safer.

If we don't have 500 lbs of **** in an attic around here, it's called "wasted space" lol. We have an 8' x 16' area floored over the garage.

 

[metal1313]

i live in my attic... old house, its 9ft from the floor to the peak of the roof. the areas with out floors have 2ft of insulation, and since its heated and cooled and insulated its pretty liveable up here.

that being said i have stairs..real ones, they are a little narrow and tight at the turn at the top, but i have always been scared of those wooden pull down ladders.

 

[rlitman]

And screws are also not necessarily stronger in shear if I recall correctly.

That is scary, but in my end of the world, the attic is full of insulation, so you don't store **** up there. The attic serves a functional purpose to make the house livable. Junk gets stored elsewhere, so people here don't even know that an attic ladder is.

Screws are just as strong as nails in shear, IF their solid cross sectional area is the same. If you just measure the diameter to the threads, (what most people do, since that's what will fit in the same hole), screws are much weaker in shear. When I installed my attic ladders, I used 1/4" diameter lag bolts. That's stronger than nails in all regards.

On that note, not all attic ladders lead into attics my friend.
I do have one leading into the attic in my house, but I also put one into the storage loft in the top of my garage. Both are Werner 300lb rated steel attic ladders. The locking hinge knees where it folds makes for a very strong ladder that won't fold up on you, but I've had a number of rung rivets fail (leaving one corner of a step unsupported, which leads to a twisting step). My solution was to drill out the holes, and install carefully selected bolts.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Hope he pulls through.
Ladder safety is often overlooked, and attic ladder safety even more so.

 

[Mr_fixit]

Similar story with a better ending...
I was on the pull down steps carrying a box of Christmas ornaments up. I'm about three steps up. Boom! one step went down and I drop a foot...

, BOOM! Another step gave way...... I'm still standing on the bottom step with the box still in my hand.

After that I added some steel to the hinged joint areas, and put a piece of threaded rod below every step to hold the uprights together and to prevent the steps from falling.. And i also glued a split step back together and reinforced it with a piece of plywood for extra reinforcement.

Now they're good for another 30 years.

 

[PassnThru]

I don't think the ladders themselves are actually inherently dangerous. Naturally - some will be more so than others due to improper installation. I think a lot of the problems come from the fact that most people just ignore basic maintenance on them because they don't use them very often.
When you stop to think about it - that ladder is exposed to some pretty wild temperature swings in a well ventilated attic. Cycling between extreme hot and extreme cold and humidity changes will damage wood more than frequent use. Loose fasteners? They probably weren't loose during the summer.
My attic storage is in the detached garage so I store more than seasonal stuff up there. I'm up in the attic several times a month so I'm pretty familiar with those stairs so I'll likely notice when they loosen up or act differently.
Of course, having said that and jinxed myself, I'll be complaining here soon that my attic stairs just collapsed

 

[PassnThru]

Screws are just as strong as nails in shear, IF their solid cross sectional area is the same. If you just measure the diameter to the threads, (what most people do, since that's what will fit in the same hole), screws are much weaker in shear. When I installed my attic ladders, I used 1/4" diameter lag bolts. That's stronger than nails in all regards.

Yes - I said not necessarily because some people seem to buy drywall screws for everything. I will agree that not many (if any) nails can beat a quarter inch lag.
I do think that nails have an advantage in many applications because they will give a little with natural settling. A stress might be relieved instead of building to the point of snapping a screw. In some instances that can make a big difference. In this particular case, I'd rather see 16 penny nails holding the frame of the stairs up than some cheap drywall screws.

 

[rlitman]

In this particular case, I'd rather see 16 penny nails holding the frame of the stairs up than some cheap drywall screws.

Oh hell yes (btw I was completely agreeing with you if that wasn't entirely clear). Lots of people think that drywall screws are structural. Boy can that be a big mistake. And they're quite brittle too.

. . .When you stop to think about it - that ladder is exposed to some pretty wild temperature swings in a well ventilated attic. Cycling between extreme hot and extreme cold and humidity changes will damage wood more than frequent use. Loose fasteners? They probably weren't loose during the summer. . .

My roof is exposed to much more wild changes in temperature. It handles those swings just fine. There's no excuse for a ladder to fail from this.
There's no excuse for loose fasteners too. My ladders were made using rivets (which were insufficiently sized for frequent use). Those shouldn't loosen over time. On the bolts I replaced them with, I used nyloc nuts. No loosening issues.

I think the bigger issue is that many houses are built with "builder basic" (i.e. the cheapest thing the contractor can find) materials.
Many attic ladders are type II or type III (225lb or 200lb) rated. That's the maximum static capacity which includes the person on the ladder AND whatever they're carrying. Make a dash up the ladder, and the dynamic forces are much greater.

Now I can't speak to the ladder referred by the OP, but I can say that cheap ladders are inherently dangerous. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and there are a lot of weak links here. Inherently dangerous ladders, poor installation, plus lack of inspection, overloading, and other forms of carelessness, some of it probably due to a lack of respect for such a simple thing.
There's a reason why nearly 165,000 Americans are treated for ladder-related injuries every year (this is a statistic I got from the US CPSC).

 

[PassnThru]

Oh hell yes (btw I was completely agreeing with you if that wasn't entirely clear). Lots of people think that drywall screws are structural. Boy can that be a big mistake. And they're quite brittle too.

I knew we were on the same page. A 16d nail is a 16d nail. Lots of different screws and they have different purposes
Just wanted to make that clear for Google searchers.

 

[Brad54]

I never really thought about it.

I've got a pull-down ladder in our upstairs hall--our HVAC unit is in the attic, so I'm going up that ladder once a month, or every other month, to change the furnace filter.

I'll be looking at it this weekend and inspecting the fasteners, rungs and fittings.

Thanks for the tip. Sorry it presented itself that way.

-Brad

 

[rwreuter]

when i moved to Georgia several years ago, ALL of the houses had attic ladders in them, often 2 of them. most of the ladders were those cheap ones that many are talking about. i bout 2 houses, (rental and live in (i lived in one and then rented it) i had to rebuild BOTH ladders. what a PIA!!!!

so when i moved to Kansas i wanted a top quality ladder, one that was secured well to the trusses (so the trusses would be the first to fall....LOL)

i bought this one:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=202026699

and i secured it with shear stainless steel screws (they wouldn't work themselves out or break)....I AM REALLY, REALLY happy with this ladder. the only thing that i wish i could improve on was the width....too bad the trusses were a set width.

don't go cheap with an attic ladder, it has your and your families life in it. carry something up and snap the rung breaks and down you or your family member goes. the one i bought doesn't have rope dangling down...you use a bar to pull it down....SWEET!!!!

 

[RichardNorman]

Terrible to hear but thank you for sharing the story. I have one of the cheap wooden attic ladders in the loft over my garage...it was the one the builders of the house installed so I know it's the cheapest one you can get most likely.

Every time I go up and down that ladder I think to myself I should look into replacing it...but as soon as I'm done using it and fold it up, my thoughts trail off to whatever it was I was actually doing and forget all about it.

This story made me shop around and fine a nice metal ladder.

I hope your friend recovers. My thoughts are with him.

 

[Toymeister]

I don't understand how you can store **** in an attic. My attic is about 4-5' from the ceiling to the peak of the roof rafters. About 2' of that is used up with loose blown in insulation. That leaves 2-3" at the peak and nothing a few feet away from there. To store even a small box, I would have to remove the insulation, built a platform above the insulation level, and put the insulation back in there. You don't need an attic ladder when you go up there only once every 5-10 years to fix the attic fan.

Thats becase the homes arround you are smaller (thats not a slam) and they have 4/12 pitch. Many homes that do not have to support snow loads, especially newer ones have 12/12 pitch roofs. My attic has a 14' attic. Changing the attic fan near the peak was not fun.

 

[superspec]

im in the same boat. my attic ladder had lose nuts, chipped bolt holes and splitting where sections meet. ive done everything to secure it other than buying a new one. im constantly going into my attic and always try to keep at least 1 hand on a higher rung.

 

[ket-tek]

My current home I installed an aluminum ladder, it's very beefy. It had stickers that said 'nail here' in multiple locations, which I did to get it in place and square, then I also added 3/8 lags to it to make sure it was gonna be solid for long time.

Something similar to this, except it it's fully boxed aluminum tube not c-channel type like the picture.

And to the guys saying an attic is for storage only, and they never go up there, or once every 10 years. I'm not sure why you would never go up there if you care about maintaining your home? I go about twice a year around the begging of winter and then in the spring. I check all the plumbing vent flanges and entire roof area for signs water leakage. Check to make sure the soffits are clear as air movement in the attic can move some blown-in insulation over time, and that there is no signs of animal nesting, rodent turds, or wasps nests up there.

You just gonna wait until the sheetrock starts to crumble upstairs for you to know its time for fix a broken shingle or plumbing vent flange?

 

[mbatarga]

Mine has been cracked for years, way to much money to replace

Louisville Ladder 8 ft. x 54 in. x 22-1/2 in.Premium Series Wood Attic Ladder 250 Lb. Load Capacity ( Duty Rating )
$98 at Home Depot

 

[Norcal]

Do not repair ladders, if they are damaged the safest thing is to replace, & to those who use screws " 'cause they are stronger" be aware that hardened screws have NO shear value, ladder manufacturers are not going to put out instructions that will lead to failure because that means lawsuits, if they say to nail it, use nails, don't try to re-engineer it.

 

[PeterT]

im in the same boat. my attic ladder had lose nuts, chipped bolt holes and splitting where sections meet. ive done everything to secure it other than buying a new one. im constantly going into my attic and always try to keep at least 1 hand on a higher rung.

The could be to age, temperature swings, or just quality. I own a Century Aluminum 300lb rating, made in the USA ladder - its top notch.
Some are made in China and are junk.

 

[Kevin54]

Do a search for the brand and recall. IIRC, I think Werner had a recall either last year or year before on attic ladders due to cracking. Like I said, I can't remember correctly but I do know one of the manufacturers had a recall.

 

[LennyTheLizard]

I had what appeared to be a real nice Werner Steel fold down ladder. When you fold it down, it would lock the sections in place to ensure it could not "unfold" while you were going up and down the ladder. Seems real safe, however, after several years the hings / locking mechanism on one side broke (it was cast material). I called up Werner to see if they could just sell me the hinge since everything else was still in good shape. They said they could not do that and they shipped me a whole brand new ladder (but the new one was aluminum). They did not make the old folding ladder with the cast hinges anymore (I wonder why?).

 

[NUTTSGT]

A friend of mine was going to put some Christmas stuff away for his wife , climbed onto his attic ladder got about half way up with a box in his hands and one leg of it snapped ..

House is less than 10 years old

He fell , landed on his side and his head slapped the floor , he is in hospital in a coma .

Doctors are not sure of extent of his injuries at this time , wait and see


Thanks

Any updates on your friend ?

 

[superspec]

The could be to age, temperature swings, or just quality. I own a Century Aluminum 300lb rating, made in the USA ladder - its top notch.
Some are made in China and are junk.

to be fair the ladder is 33 years old and wasnt maintained for the first 25 yrs.

 

[Superlifted06FX4]

I don't understand how you can store **** in an attic. My attic is about 4-5' from the ceiling to the peak of the roof rafters. About 2' of that is used up with loose blown in insulation. That leaves 2-3" at the peak and nothing a few feet away from there. To store even a small box, I would have to remove the insulation, built a platform above the insulation level, and put the insulation back in there. You don't need an attic ladder when you go up there only once every 5-10 years to fix the attic fan.

I can walk around in my attic.