Clever semi permanent loft ladder ideas

[KatyMac]

Looking for a folding loft ladder which won't look too awful if its left out most of the time (just for storage)

Why do you want to leave it out?

You will lose vast amounts of heat through the open hatch.

I have one that slides and folds through the hatch.

Wooden ones look better than aluminium but are heavier.

Just get a proper loft ladder that folds up into the loft and a hinged door ?

It will be pretty much the same price and they aren't that difficult to install, you normally just screw them into the joist. You need to board out the area that it lands on, but that is not too hard and you need a place to stand on when you go up it anyway.

The attic is completed boarded out for storage id like to get up and down easily (I'm disabled)

There is almost room for a proper staircase but I'd need building regs and because its just for storage and I can't afford windows/fire doors etc

I would just put a proper staircase in. It will make your life easier and add some value to the house even if you don't do a full conversion

There isn't quite enough head height so it wouldn't meet building regs

We had a trapdoor with aluminium ladder to our attic when i was a child, which we kids used as a playroom as the train set and lego could be left out all the time. I could operate the ladder as an 8 year old. but you wouldnt want it down all the time, very energy inefficient

Yes I can't manage a ladder though

What would the issues be if I put in a non-compliant staircase

Nothing unless you want to sell but what do you mean by non compliant?

Sorry. Ignore me. I missed the bit about the head height.

Could you manage a paddle staircase?

You say it is boarded out but where is the insulation, under the boards or on the roof underside?

In the summer, when I work, I'd like to be up & down all the time, in the winter i would think it would be generally closed off

If I did a staircase it would be behind a door with a curtain

Paddle might work but I still think the head height is a problem for building regs

AI suggests there is a problem with fixed staircases going to storage spaces as it looks like it wants to be a room - but redddit suggests that its just no big deal

Would a spiral staircase work?

Or a telescopic one?

https://www.loftshop.co.uk/products/loft-ladders/aluminium-steel-loft-ladders/Telesteps-Telescopic-Loft-Ladder

Spiral might work but carrying stuff could still be tricky

But telescopic no its still just a ladder

What kind of things are you carrying? Could they not be stored elsewhere somewhere more accessible? How about garden storage if you have one?

My little cottage has a proper staircase up to a loft 'bedroom' which has a Velux window but you can't (quite) stand upright up there, even down the spine of the house. No fire doors or anything. How much height do you need?

@KatyMac look up Dolle loft stairs, such as the Arundel.

I'm tempted to get one myself but we'd have to move the loft hatch and sort out insulation.

We just have a wooden, fold out ladder like this:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/essentials-insulated-timber-2-96m-loft-ladder-kit/972FH?tc=PA6&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19822796810&gbraid=0AAAAAD8IdPwyM_Ucg3geHFKA23VLTJq7n&gclid=CjwKCAiAjojLBhAlEiwAcjhrDhiEzg-Lli5yRpXt9lm43O30aStxTnEwuGZ2dhvUU4BnrXYr7_G18BoCTEcQAvD_BwE

Oo the dolled stairs look better

Someone just said you can't sell a house with a permanent staircase if it doesnt have building regs - is that true?

It looks to me as though you could just remove the semi permanent Dolle stairs and reinstate the loft hatch.

A house with a loft hatch and no ladder is perfectly saleable, I would have thought.

Outside storage won't really work as its for fabric

And ladders are just a no

Im going to have to get rid of my stash aren't I?

I suspect my stairs were built when the regs were different, because I only bought the cottage six years ago and it was fine legally then. It's just that the upper room can't be listed as a bedroom, despite having a permanent staircase (it used to be a holiday cottage and only children slept upstairs). My DD has just bought a house with a fully boarded loft and a pull down ladder and she's delighted about the extra storage space up there (she doesn't need to use it as a room).

We own a Victorian Terrace with a room thats not really a bedroom (if that makes sense) but there is a proper permanent staircase. We can't call it a room. Fir CT and selling purposes the house has two bedrooms.

But the presence of the staircase is not an issue.