We used to have a clunky metal sliding step ladder into the attic which the wife hated because it was always dropping dirt onto the carpet when it was opened regardless of how much you cleaned it and was difficult to put away as it covered half the available attic floor when stored. When I converted half the loft to an art studio I replaced those steps with a simple telescopic ladder that was light, easy to use and compact. Clearly this was wrong as the ladder is too steep and has no hand rail.

Any suggestions on how to build a set of steps, with a hand rail, that are light, compact, comfortable to stand on in bare feet and will fit?

The upstairs landing with the size of the hatchway shown. The hatchway is quite narrow to fit between the beams.

The hatch open with the current ‘too steep’ and painful to stand on ladder

The view from in the attic. You can see where the current ladder folds up to which ends before the blue painting. The two big beams of wood are what the old steps were fixed to and it used to slide down at 90 degrees to the current ladder meaning there was little room between the steps and the hatch when walking up them.

I would like some steps that go up the same direction as the new ladder but cannot find any commercial ones that are narrow enough to fit. Any suggestions or plans welcome.

Just seen this and wonder how easy it would be to make. Unfortunately there is no commentary or plans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TTw7gLLM0&ab_channel=TheElectricLoftLadderCompany

We put a mini-mezzanine above my daughter’s bedroom and got a space-saving/tight return staircase kit. It’s pretty narrow and has a small footprint, cost approx £400 and we had the chippie fit it – he was really impressed. We thought we’d be paying him extra to fix it up but not the case.

https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Space-Saver-Staircase.html

Not sure if there’s anything suitable there but I think they do some sliding steps..

We changed our metal one for one that folds onto the hatch. You get good sized, flat wooden steps. There is a small handrail at the top. It can be opened with one hand too, which is handy when you are carrying something. Obviously not as good as stairs, but pretty good. Fine in bare feet or slippers.

Like this

I did cut a joist out to make the hole nice and wide.

I got one like Nick suggests. Comes as a complete assembly so just have to enlarge the hole in the ceiling if not already large enough and attach to joists. Also when the instructions say its a 2-person job…it is. I spent a good 5 or so minutes with my arms trapped in the spring loaded mechanism when trying to install by myself in a reasonable amount of pain due to the spring pressure. Nearly a kind of Darwin Award thing. Trying to suss out how to open the mechanism without the use of my arms.

We used to have a crap wobbly metal ladder as well, which i replaced last year with this wooden one from screwfix (similar to the one above): Screwfix loft ladder

I had to make the hatch bigger and rotated the opening by 90 degrees to fit between the joists, but making the hole bigger has been a revelation! I can now get stuff in and out without being a contortion artist.

The ladder is attached to the door as well so it freed up a lot of space where I used to have to leave a gap for the ladder to retract to.

I dont have a handrail, but the steps are fine without shoes on and much better in every way than the old one.

fitted one of these to son’s house.

https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Wooden-Loft-Ladders.html

needed 2 of us to fit as it was quite weighty

I have much less space than you in my loft, so I had to fit one of these. No hand rail though.

https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Concertina-Loft-Ladders.html

I can’t remember how long I’ve had it now, but it’s been fine.

Nothing from LaddersAndScaffolding fits the aperture unfortunately. I was going to cut and narrow an available loft ladder but then all of the fittings don’t, er, fit

Enlarging the opening is usually pretty easy. The joists don’t usually go very far unsupported on a landing. Well worth doing to get a decent ladder and make it easier to get in and out.

I was going to suggest what Nickjb (& everyone else) has already posted, all in one unit, fit pretty easily..
But when I saw Woffle posted, I assumed it was one of these (below) but the orientations wrong in WCA’s house.

https://www.ambista.com/en/wood-stairs/klapster-the-folding-staircase-for-efficient-use-of-space-49002

The one in Nicks post above is the right width to fit nicely between the joists so as long as you alight it in line there should be no reason to start messing around with joists.

Zippy – had seen those and tried to work out if we could do something like that but when against the wall treads go up above ceiling height – plus the small question of doors.

Might look at enlarging the aperture but it is a lot of work for a small gain.

Given your history with ladders, wouldn’t something like this be wiser?

https://www.stannah.co.uk/our-homelifts/

We’ve got one of those screwfix ones that lankystreakofpee linked to. No handrail but you can just grab the treads or sides. Very comfortable with bare/socked feet, really easy to get out / put away. Looks like you might need to adjust the hole a bit, but as mentioned above, that shouldn’t be too hard.

My biggest issue with having this is that now the wife will go into the loft which means I have one less place to hide un-approved purchases!

My biggest issue with having this is that now the wife will go into the loft which means I have one less place to hide un-approved purchases!

It is currently my last retreat after she managed to get a key to the garage. I can go up there for a couple of hours at the weekend to paint or at least contemplate without her disturbing me with the reality of all the jobs I ‘should’ be doing