We used to have one of those crummy wooden folding stairs to get into the attic. They require a massive hole in the ceiling, and an equally massive amount of floor space when opened. With the new bathroom closed off with a wall, there is less space than there used to be, and the old stairs were just too big. In addition, the old ladder didn't support much weight - it was old and just felt flimsy. Time for an upgrade!

Enter the Werner AA10 Attic Ladder.

I knew that SOMEONE had to make these things, as I'd seen one in England, but it was actually somewhat tricky to find one here in the states! After doing extensive research online, we found the Werner brand attic ladders, and because our ceilings are a bit higher than modern homes, we had to get the AA10 instead of the basic AA8 model.

It wasn't cheap. We paid $262, but once it came, I found out why. This is a very high quality ladder, and NOTHING like the old wooden folding ladder we had before. The ladder is made of 10 sets of extruded aluminum rail sections that fit together beautifully and slide up into a compact unit. It's solidly built and will support up to 250 pounds. Once the ladder is retracted, it rotates up and out of the hole, allowing you to close the hatch below it. Looking at how well it is built, I can understand the price tag and actually think it's quite a good deal.

We don't even have drywall up, so we certainly don't have a hatch built to cover it yet, but the hatch will be insulated, and I'll also be building a box out of thick foam to cover it on the attic side.

The ladder we bought can be installed in a hole as small as 22x22 inches (though you'd have trouble fitting through a hole that size!) Our rough opening is 25 inches wide and will probably be around 42 inches long. The old ladder required a massive 54 inch long opening!

It was quite a snap to install as well - much easier than I had anticipated. All I needed was a small drill bit, a 7/16 inch socket driver, phillips screwdriver and two wrenches. The ladder is somewhat heavy to lift onto it's mount when installing, but I managed by myself OK.

It's good to see the solutions finally coming together on this long project - we've been working on this off and on (mostly off) for more than 2 years now, and we both want to see our new bathroom finished!

Until the next project...