Need pull down stair recommendation

[Raymond Fries]

I need to replace the pull down stairs in my garage that ges to the attic. I would like your feedback on what to get. Not sure if I should get wood or metal. Would like to try to get something decent for between $200 & $300.

Thanks

[George Bokros]

I have wooden ones and if i were to do it again I would put in either fiberglass or metal. Wood are a little loose in the joints for me.

[Mel Fulks]

The bungalow I used to live in had a wood one . Couple of the treads had bad grain, think store bought hammer handle.
One broke with me on it . Given a choice I'd want metal.

[Ole Anderson]

I replaced my old squeaky wood one with the aluminum ones from HD. Under $300 IIRC.

[Bryan Rocker]

I installed one in my last house and it was a metal one as well. IMHO metal is superior to wood for drop down ladders.....

[Larry Edgerton]

http://www.conservationtechnology.com/building_ladder.html

This one is well built and insulated with seals. Its what I use if the attic access has to be in a heated area. I like to see them in a non heated space as the heat loss through the smallest openings can cost much more than the price of the door in its lifetime, but it a non heated {Porch ceiling} is not available I use this one. The Werner aluminums are nice but hard to seal and insulate well.

Larry

[Tom Stenzel]

Larry's right.

When house I live in now has a pull down ladder in the hallway right in front of the bathroom door. Every so often I would find drops of water on the floor, I had blamed them on my two daughters making a dash to their bedrooms without drying themselves after a shower. It wasn't until water dripped on my head one day that I looked up and saw condensation on the stairway door.

I built one of those boxes out of insulation panels and aluminum tape (saw it in a This Old House magazine) to fit over the opening, and put thick soft weatherstripping on the wood for the box to rest on. What a difference! Now I have problems all winter long with water condensing on all the windows. That's without any humidifiers in the house. That opening was the last major air loss I had. Even with the cold we had here in Michigan my gas bill didn't go over $100 for any month this winter. The house is a palatial 1030 square feet, but still...

The good news is that building one of the insulating boxes is cheap and easy, you don't have to spend hundreds on a new stairway to save money on heating/cooling.

Tom

[Doug W Swanson]

I've got a Werner aluminum ladder in my garage. I think it has a 350lb capacity and I paid about $200 for it. It works great and I would recommend it...

[Lee Schierer]

I've got a Werner aluminum ladder in my garage. I think it has a 350lb capacity and I paid about $200 for it. It works great and I would recommend it...

My thoughts are that the ladder weight capacity should be adequate for the proposed task. A folding ladder with a 250# capacity is basically a joke. The average adult male weighs nearly 200 pounds and 50% of us are over that. That gives you very little margin of error for wear and tear or carrying a load up or down. I would buy the 350 pound class ladders and if the ceiling height is 9 feet or more then the 375 pound class would be my choice.

[Raymond Fries]

Good tips guys. Metal does sound like the way to go. Looks like the 350 lb class will be the way to go. I had not thought about insulation and that is an excellent consideration as I heat my garage for my shop.

Thanks

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.calvertusa.com/

I bought some metal/aluminum ones from this place for a small, narrow attic access. They work very well for my needs. I got tired of having to haul my ladder to the second floor every time I need to access my attic.

[Von Bickley]

In my last house, I pulled out the pull-down stairs and replaced them with real stairs. Made up my mind never to have pull down stairs again.