Attic stair & pull-down or folding stairway construction, installation, inspection, hazards & repair questions & answers.

This article series explains how to inspect the condition and safety of attic stairs, folding or pull-down attic stairs and ladders, and attic stairway railings, landings, & treads, and related conditions for safety and proper construction.

attic Stair Code, Construction, Inspection & Safety Q&A

These questions & answers about attic stair construction, safety, code were posted originally

at ATTIC STAIR CODES & HAZARDS - be sure to see the hazards described there.

On 2019-03-05 by (mod) - Attic ladder or folding stair capacity label source

Jerry

Generally the ladder manufacturers hire a label printing company or service to print the necessary labels to their specifications.

I haven't seen generic ladder capacity labels for sale and I suspect that's because the detailed requirements vary among products, markets, and manufacturers.

On 2019-03-05 by Jerry

Where can I buy

Attic ladder capacity label?

On 2019-03-01 by (mod) - is an attic stair under a low roof "legal" ?

Chris

Whether or not the attic stair is "legal" depends on the stair codes that have been in adopted in your city - I think you're saying in California.

And the final legal authority is your local building code inspector.

Typical codes require:

A 30-inch (762 mm) minimum unobstructed headroom in the attic space shall be provided at some point above the access opening.

Watch out: From the photo I see other safety, trip and fall concerns such as absence of handrailing, triangular treads un-blocked at the inner radius, and a top floor "guardrail" that is open and climbable, permitting a child to fall through.

On 2019-02-27 by chris

a staircase to an attic with conditioned space and a 9.5 roof pitch in ca. Its 80' in the middle but one side gets as low 65' because of the roof angle.

Will this be legal since its an attic?

On 2018-08-31 1 by (mod) - attic pull down stairs are too short

There are plenty of models of attic pull-down stairs that provide a strong ladder of the proper length to reach the floor. In my opinion any home-made boxes or extensions are a poor second-best and are not just inconvenient but may be unsafe.

I would insist that a proper stair be installed.

My photo shows a "too short" attic folding stair that cannot be used safely. I had to use my telescoping ladder simply to get near the attic opening.

On 2018-08-31 by Harvey Crouch

I am building a house and noticed the attic stairs are to short and the builder said he will build a box to put the stairs on is this a big safety issue.

I would think it would be.

Thanks

On 2018-04-11 by (mod) - inspector says we need an access cover over the pull down stairs in our garage ceiling

Requirement for a fire-rated cover on an attic hatch in a garage

Jerry

I agree with your home inspector that a fire-rated (such as fire rated drywall) ceiling and ceiling access cover would be a safety issue and that adding a cover, a trivial expense, is a smart idea, regardless of whether or not local code officials require it.

Building codes cannot and don't attempt to address every possible safety condition and your on-site expert is looking out for the safety of building occupants.

I think part of your inspector's thinking is that any opening in a ceiling, in event of a fire (fires are more-likely in a garage) acts as a natural chimney that speeds the spread of a fire, thus giving building occupants less time to become aware of the hazard and to escape.

The requirement for fire resistance in garages is often interpreted as having more than one solution.

For example a fire-rated wall between garage and living space, extending up to the roof, combined with fire-rated covering over the roof sheathing or fire retardant plywood roof sheathing extending from the common wall under the roof into the garage area roof by 4' or more will usually meet fire codes even if the rest of the garage walls and ceiling are not fire rated.

Using Phoenix AZ as an example the fire codes are in Chapter 7 of the Phoenix Arizona building code.

An example excerpt from 703.1.3 (though this is not the precisely applicable paragraph it's representative)

703.1.3 Fire walls, fire barriers and fire partitions.

Required fire walls, fire bvarriers and fire partitions shall be maintained to prevent the passage of fire. All openings protected with approved doors or fire dampers shall be maintained in accordance with NFPA 80.

Here is the relevant code citation from AZ's adoption of the 2017 International Fire Code

315.3.4 Attic, under-floor and concealed spaces.

Attic, under-floor and concealed spaces used for storage of combustible materials shall be protected on the storage side as required for 1-hour fire-resistance-rated construction.

Openings shall be protected by assemblies that are self closing and are of noncombustible construction or solid wood core not less than 1 3/4 inches (44.5 mm) in thickness.

Storage shall not be placed on exposed joists.

Exceptions:

1. Areas protected by approved automatic sprinkler
systems.

2. Group R-3 and Group U occupancies

You can read this copy of the entire ARIZONA FIRE CODE [PDF] as adopted from the 2015 International Fire Code

On 2018-04-11 by Jerry Layne

A home inspector says we need an access cover over the pull down stairs in our garage ceiling.

He said the fire integrity of the garage ceiling has been compromised. He claims " SAFETY ISSUE". The attic pull down stairs have been in place since 1979. We live in Arizona. Is this a building code requirement?

On 2017-04-13 by (mod) -

John,

Building codes do not require stairway access to non-living space such as the one you describe.

However it my opinion it would be a mistake to give no access whatsoever, since over the life of a building it is a near certainty that there will be a need to enter that under-roof space, for example to inspect to track down a leak source, to run an electrical wire, etc.

At the minimum I'd think you'd want to leave an attic access hatch constructed, as must be the ceiling in most jurisdictions, using proper fire-resistant drywall between garage and living space.

On 2017-04-13 02:57:28.408659 by John

I live in Lake City FL and building a new home. I would like to know if it is a code that I have to have attic stairs that pull down in my garage. I'm not using it for anything. Can I just sheetrock the garage ceiling.

On 2017-04-05 by (mod) - We have 10' ceilings. Would you recommend pull down stairs from attic or regular stairs.

Gerard,

There is no one right answer; If your access to attic will be just occasional, if the attic space is not very large nor tall, if you'll not expect to store large or heavy items there, then a pull-down stair (with an extension to reach the necessary 10 ft. height) makes sense as you don't give up space for a stairway.

If you expect to make frequent use of a large attic storage space then an actual stairway is far easier to use; but you have to have room for the stairway run.

For a 10 foot total rise, at a typical step height of about 7" you'd need 17 steps.

With a typical 10 or 11 inch tread depth that'd be no less than 170" of horizontal run.

So you'd need nearly fifteen feet of horizontal space and 3 feet of width for the stairway.

On 2017-04-05 by Gerard woods

We have 10' ceilings. Would you recommend pull down stairs from attic or regular stairs. Attic used for storage

On 2017-04-05 by (mod) - OK to leave attic pull-down stairs open but ...

Romi,

It won't damage your attic pull-down or fold down stair to leave the stairs open and extended for a few days, but keep in mind that

- if you are heating or cooling your home, leaving the access to the attic open increases energy cost

- depending on where the fold down stairs terminate they may be an obstruction or trip hazard

Watch out: however take care to inspect the hinge arms and spring location on your attic fold-down stairway.

My photo illustrates a loose and bent attic folding stair spring arm that is dangerous: not only does the spring no longer run over the hinge point where it should, but the loose, bent attic stair spring risks popping off and hitting you in the face or eye, or failing to adequately lift the stairs back into place.

On 2016-11-16 by Romi

I have a fold down ladder for my attic would damage the Springs if I leave the ladder down/extended for a couple of days?

On 2016-09-22 by andy from OKC OK

Are alternating tread ladders within IRC for access to uninhabited spaces like attics and storage lofts? What demonstrates that the space is in fact uninhabited (especially if I have a permanent ladder to it?)

Question: California stair rules

(May 31, 2014) Maggie McGee said:

Hello, Can you tell me the CA rules - Monterey Co. in particular - for new staircases leading to storage attics? The attic will not be used for anything but storage.

The stairs rise (8") and run (9") number of 17 stairs and width is 36" with railing on one side.

The building inspector says these aren't "to code" but architect says they are "to code for stairs running to un-livable space".

The inspector wants us to tear out completely or will red-tag our home. We just moved back in 18 mos. after a house fire.

I feel the inspector is being ridiculous. Our old ladder access to attic is much more dangerous than these stairs.

Can you offer any advice or at least tell us our architect is wrong? We have 19 days left before we need to "vacate". Thank you for any help whatsoever, Maggie

Reply:

Maggie,

To permit space and link citations I've copied your answer and provided our reply in the bottom of the article above.
Keep me posted

Question:

(Sept 21, 2014) Todd Burns said:
I have both, attic access in the garage (pull down stairs) and a push out opening in my hallway. I want to eliminate the one in the hallway, it looks terrible, will that be a problem if I sell my house.

Reply:

Tedd as long as the stairs give access to the full attic, access ought not be an issue. But I'd check for fire code compliance and safety between house and garage.

...

Continue reading at ATTIC STAIR CODES & HAZARDS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• STAIR CODES & STANDARDS
• STAIR DIMENSIONS, WIDTH, HEIGHT
• STAIRS, RAILINGS, LANDINGS, RAMPS - INSPECTIONS, CODES

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