Cutting Ceiling Joists For Attic Stairs

Cutting a hole in the floor for a staircase may happen during new construction or while renovating an older home.

Cutting ceiling joists for attic stairs.

Cut a stringer to this length. If the room has a ceiling and you have cut the required hole go to step 2. If the room has no ceiling. Cut 2 joist sized boards long enough to span two joists on each side of your chosen.

Cutting and or removing joists to provide an entry or access can be the most difficult part of the overall project. Locate the joists behind the drywall on the ceiling using a. Standard ceiling joists sit on 24 inch centers and the space between them is 22 1 2 inches. These are trimmer joists.

Either process requires cutting away flooring. Note that only one stringer is needed in figure 17 because the ceiling joist provides one side of the frame. How to cut a hole in the ceiling for attic access. You potentially compromise too many of the rafter cross ties by doing that.

Instead you should place the cutout opening inline with the ceiling joists rafter ties. Step 2 cut joist support boards. I would not put the attic stairs ladder assembly opening at right angles to the ceiling joists. In order to maintain the support integrity of the ceiling or floor joist or rafter system it is important that if joists are cut that the load that was bearing on those joists be transferred to a modified support system.

Next using an electric drill pop a screw up through the drywall in the ceiling as a reference point so that when you go up in the attic you ll be able to locate it and find the general location of the attic stair. This way you only need to cut one of them to make the room for the rough framing opening. Position a stepladder directly under the desired area for the attic access hole. Measure the distance between the full joists on either side of the cut joists.

Locate an area centered between the two joists and cut a 6 to 8 inch diameter hole using a. When converting an attic or basement to finished living space you may decide to replace a ladder with a stairway or to enlarge an existing stairway. Werner s easy access attic ladder 5 cut ceiling joists step 1 mark.