Everyone can do with more storage space,
and one place we don't often think about is up on the roof.
So if your roof has some usable space
or you've got an existing attic that's difficult to access,
then a set of pull-down attic stairs
are the perfect way for you to safely get into your roof area.
You can buy attic stairs off the shelf,
and with a little bit of help, I'll
show you how you can install them.
Now, one of the first things I have to do
is establish which model attic stair I'm going to use.
So the first thing I have today is measure my stud height.
Now, I've got a 2.7 stud height, so the next thing
I have to work out is what I'm going
to be using the stair for.
Now, I'm only going to be using them for an occasional storage,
so this is the model I'm after.
Now, the next thing I need to work out
is exactly whereabouts in the ceiling
I'm going to install it.
So I figure this is quite a good space,
right about here somewhere.
It's pretty close to the door.
Nice and easy for me to access.
So what I need to do is jump up in the ceiling
and make sure there's no structural members
that I'm going to cut through.
So just as a reference point, I know
I've got some lights there.
So I'm going to get up on the ceiling
and have a look to see if everything's OK for me
to cut that ceiling out.
Now, when working in the ceiling, always be careful.
Only stand on the trusses or ceiling battens,
and never stand on the plasterboard.
So here's my light footing that we saw downstairs.
So that's a good reference point.
Now, I've got a truss right on the side of that,
so I could attach to that, if I need to.
Now, over here, I can also see that's my wall downstairs.
So I've got plenty of room in between these two trusses
for downstairs.
So what I'm going to do is just frame out in between these two.
Everyone's roof spaces will be different.
If you're not sure which parts of the roof are structural
and what you can or can't cut through,
it's a good idea to get a licensed building
practitioner to advise you.
Now, a couple of things you should
note before you start cutting into your ceiling.
You do want to be in the highest part of your ceiling.
So what that means is if you were to come up the stairs,
you don't want to bang your head on the roof above you.
So being in the highest part is a really, really good tip.
So what I'm going to do now is give myself a reference point
for downstairs.
So to do that, I've got a nice long drill bit here.
It's about a 6 mil drill bit.
And all I'm going to do is drill down hard next
to the side of our truss, because I
know that's going to be my first reference point.
Now, just before we crack on, we're
definitely not going to be cutting through our trusses
or rafters, but what we can cut through
is our ceiling battens, these members
here, because these are nonstructural.
OK.
Time for me to drill our reference points.
Be aware of any wires or pipes.
And if you need to get them removed
to accommodate your stairs, you'll
need an electrician or plumber to do that for you.
Now, I've got my two reference points
from the holes I drilled from upstairs.
Now, just before I chop out, I need
to know exactly how much I'm going to chop out.
So as per my instructions in the pack, I'm using the R28 model.
So on the chart here, it says that I
need a 1370 by 650 opening.
Now, here's just a little heads up.
You just want to make sure that you've actually
got enough landing space.
So that's the distance from where
the ladder starts from to where it lands on the ground.
So we've actually got a landing space of 1180.
So you want at least half a meter in front of it
distance for you to access the front of the stairs.
Now, up in the ceiling, I know that I've
got a ceiling batten that runs right next to my hole here.
So I'm going to utilize that as a solid fixing point.
So I'm going to start my 1370 from that hole.
And I know I've got plenty of head room upstairs.
So I can come back.
I've just got to mark 1370.
So I've just got a ruler.
Point between those two marks.
Now, I'm just going to use my rafter
square to give me 90 degrees.
If you don't have a rafter square,
you could use the edge of a custom wood sheet
on plywood sheet that's 90 degrees.
Now, I'll just mark my 650 wide.
So I just mark 650 down this end as well.
Now, just square that off our line,
and transfer that mark all the way down.
Cool!
She's all marked out.
Now, the next thing is cutting it out.
Now, we're just about ready to cut into the ceiling.
So one of the best tools you can use for this is the multi-tool.
Now, I've got a jib cutting blade on there.
Now all I'm going to do is just go the bare minimum
so it's just throw the jib only.
We can cut out all our ceiling battens later.
Righty-oh.
All I have to do now is remove my plasterboard.
Now, by using the multi-tool, I just
made sure that I was only cutting
through the plasterboard and nothing else.
So what I'm going to do now is just
use a handsaw and cut threw all our rafter battens.
And if you're not sure what to cut, always check with an LBP
first.
Now, the sides of my attic stair are 90 millimeters high.
So I'm going to be flush with the bottom of the ceiling,
and it's got to come up 90 mil from there.
So I can fix into the bottom cord of this truss.
But as you can see, I also need to fill in the gaps
here just to ensure I've got a complete solid fixing.
So we're also going to have to have solid fixing in
between our two trusses.
Side that will be a 4 by 2 sitting
on the top of that ceiling batten running across
from there, also running on the top of these ceiling battens,
and across on that end, as well as filling in
between these battens as well.
So I've just got to slip on my ceiling batten.
And just to make it nice and easy for myself,
I'm just going to screw those in place
using some 75 mil square drives.
Now, once I'm up here, I'm just going
to fix our plasterboard to our new nogs,
and doing that, I've got some 32 mil drywall screws.
Cool!
Now all I need to do is frame out the same on this side.
What I'm doing here is building a solid frame for the attic
stairs to attach to.
And there you go, a nice solid frame to take our stairs.
Now, our frame's all ready to take our stairs.
What I have to do is prep these stairs a little bit
before they can go in.
So the prep work I have to do is pre-drilling
some holes on the sides, and also attaching our screw eye
So as per our instructions, I have
to come in 160 millimeters from each end.
Now, I've already got some holes pre-drilled on the ends here.
So we don't have to worry about that.
So I've just got to set my set square to the same distance.
That's 25 millimeters down.
So I'm just going to mark that around.
And I'll just repeat the same down the other end.
Now, I'll just mark my 160, and same for the other end.
So I'm just going to pre-drill a 5 mil hole.
Beauty.
Now, all I have to do is the same for the other side.
Right.
The next thing we have to do is just
pre-drill a hole in our stairs to take our little hook eye.
Now, as per our instructions in the pack,
we're going to drill a hole that's
in line with the back end of screws,
and just make sure that it's in the center.
Now, there's just one last thing I
have to do before I install the stairs in the hole.
I've made these little cleats here to help me out,
to hold the stairs just temporarily in place.
So what these are going to do, I'm
going to screw these to our frame work.
They're just going to sit like that.
I'll screw them up, and they'll just
spin around and hold our stair.
So I'm going to attach these about 150 millimeters
in on the sides here, and then about 200 mil up on this end
here.
Now, in our instructions, it shows
us using a cleat that attaches to the ceiling on either end
for our attic stair to sit on.
That's totally fine.
You can do it that way.
However, attaching these cleats is just
going to make the job a lot easier.
Beauty.
Now we're ready to install our stairs.
Now, as you can see, I've asked a mate around to help me out.
Righty-oh.
So the next thing I have to do is pull the stair down.
And we're going to start fixing in from hinge end first.
Now, part of our kit, we've already got these screws.
So I'm going to attach these in the back plate
first on the hinge end.
So now I just have to put my screws in on the sides.
I'm going to start with the end first,
and I'm just going to make sure that it's still sitting hard
on our cleat so we're flush with the bottom of the ceiling.
Now, we're not going to screw that
in tight, because we want to use those screws as adjustment
later.
Cool!
Now we can remove cleats.
Righty-oh.
Now, all we have to do is shut our unit and have a look.
OK.
Now, as you can see, I've screwed this side in way
too far.
So I need to release that screw a little bit,
and move that one over.
So what we're after is a parallel line
from the back edge of our frame up against our custom wood
sheeting.
So we have to release this first screw.
And we'll just tighten up this side here.
That will allow the frame to move over.
Now, just keep adjusting the screws
until you're happy with the fit.
We'll take that a little bit more.
OK.
Carry looking nice and square and parallel with that side.
So one last thing I have to do is just cut some packers
that fit between our frame and our 4 by 2 timber frame.
So to do that, I've just got to measure
that gap between our space.
OK.
So I've got 12 millimeters there,
and I've got 4 millimeters down here.
OK.
All my packers are cut.
Now, I've just got to slide them in there.
It's quite a nice little tight fit.
So now that we've got our packers in,
I just want to make sure that the packers actually haven't
pushed it back out of square.
So it's just one last quick little check.
Yep.
That's looking absolutely fantastic.
So what I will do is just tweak those screws
just a tiny little bit just to hold the packers
in extra tight.
The next thing we want to do is cut these stairs to length.
So we'll just fold them out.
Now, these have been made a little bit longer
on the bottom.
So if I lay those out, you can see it's not a straight line.
So what we do is fold that back.
We take a straight edge or long level.
We've just got to sit that on our stairs
and project that line all the way down onto the floor.
So we'll just mark on the floor exactly where they land.
So I just mark this side as well.
Now, what I'm going to do is just mark
the back of the straight edge, and I'm just
going to use that for our length on our stair.
So I'm just going to mark that side.
That will be indicating the right.
And I'll just check to see if it's
the same length on our other side.
And we're exactly the same lengths.
Now I can use that mark to transfer onto our bottom step.
So before I do that, I'm just going
to unscrew that bottom step so we can cut it off.
Now, I'm going to have to cut an angle
on the bottom of these steps.
So what I'm going to do, I could use a sliding bevil,
but more than likely, most people won't have one of those.
So what I'm going to do is put the back point of our steps
on our pencil mark that's on the concrete.
And I'm just going to rest those on the stairs.
And just take-- you can use a block of timber, or anything.
So all I'm doing is scribing the angle of the floor
onto our stairs.
Now, I'll take that.
I've got my length.
So I'll put that flush on there.
That's the length I'm mark with out straight edge.
Mark that on both sides.
So all I have to do now is transfer that angle up
to that marked parallel.
So an easy way to do that is just
by measuring that distance.
106.
And we just rule a line.
So I'll just do that the same on the other leg,
and chop it off with a handsaw.
Now, just to finish that off, I'm
just going to use my block plane,
and just take those sharp edges off.
Now, that's for two reasons.
One is to stop it chipping when it lands hard on the floor.
And it's just going to also give it
a nice edge for when we paint the stairs later on, if you
want to.
So I'm just putting a slight bevel
on the front part of our steps as well.
That's also going to help to stop it splitting when
it lands hard on the concrete.
Lovely!
Now, all we have to do is attach it back to our main stairs.
To tidy this up, I've finished it off
with an architrave around it.
Right.
That's the job done.
These set of stairs have helped open up
an otherwise unused attic space for storage
and given us a safe way to get up there.