New Loft lader/hatch

[kazzab]

Looking at putting a new hatching in and also fitting a ladder which we don't have at present. Looking on a few site I see it says best fitted between rafters. Are there any that don't have to be fitted between, ie ones that don't lay flat ?

Don't think it's possible o us to have that as we don't have the room in the hall for the ladder to comedown any other way ( possibly that's why there isn't one there already)

Any tips would be great, thanks

 

[JohnD]

you can put one across the roof timbers (rather than along them) but the hatch will probably be narrower that way, and even more so with the ladder taking up some room you may find it impossible to squeeze yourself or the ladder through the gap.

You can't just cut roof timbers, as they are part of a calculated structure to prevent the roof and ceiling collapsing. A competent carpenter will know how to spread the load to adjoining timbers with trimmers so that a section can be cut out if necessary.

Older houses with cut roofs built by carpenters are more accomodating of change than 1960's onwards roofs made with prefabricated trussed rafters (having a "W" shape of struts in the loft)