Stairway to the Attic

Tom Hoffman

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145
Last year, I started building a 36'X36' pole bldg. for a shop and garage. We sheeted the inside with OSB and used a lot of the left over pieces to floor out most of the attic space between the roof trusses. That gave us a lot of storage space to put stuff. Our cabin has little storage room.

I always wanted a stairway for easy access to the attic space. We used a ladder to put most of the stuff up there.

Finally a couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to build the stair way.

My stringers are 2X10's and the treads are as well. I decided to get down and dirty and make them different than any I have ever seen.

I routed full through dove tails through the stringers and routed the tails on to the treads and they went together very nicely.

The next issue to deal with was how to get it up and down out of the way of the shop and cars etc.

A friend said why not use a garage tortion rod with springs and cables to lift it. We hooked it all up and as I wound turns onto the spring, the stairs started to lift. No one could figure out why it would not stay down like a garage door does untill you lift and then the springs assist you to lift the weight.

Then I tried using cables and pulleys to buckets filled with lead as a counter balance like an elevator. No luck there as there was not sufficient travel for the counter weight to get the stair all the way up.

Back to square one. What to do?:confused:

Finally the proverbial light came on.:D

A winch. Ordered one from Harbour Freight and presto, the problem was solved.

Here are some pics.

Stairway coming down.

DSC02385.jpg


Winch Cable Attachment point.

DSC02387.jpg


Tread Dove Tail Joint.

DSC02388.jpg


Shop made pivot hinges for the top pivot point.

DSC02390.jpg


Winch.

DSC02393.jpg


View from the top.

DSC02392.jpg


It was a fun and frustrating project. Now I just have to sand and put on a finish and install OSB to the back and I will be able to close off the ceiling and keep the heat in, in the winter time.

Cheers,

Tom...:D
 
I love it when a plan fails to come together and then inspiration and persperation gets you a solution!

Is there any way to get the cable out of the center of the bottom?

Looks good, got any more pics of the shop?
 
Yes, all you have to do is un clip the cable and run it up out of the way until you need it.

Yes, there are more shots of the shop. It seems like it is perpetually a mess. I am building a Dinghy for our sailboat. It is an 11' Nesting Dinghy, so it will fit behind the mast on top of the dog house.

Here is the link to the shop pics and other stuff.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/571854289RZQefQ
 
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