I spent all of my day replacing our attic stairs today, with the help of my wife and father.
Our existing one was in bad shape. It was warped and wouldn’t allow the door to close completely, it was ugly and allowed our A/C or heat to simply “run away” as it was. Some of the stairs were loose as well.
The first step was removal of the old unit, which was quite fun. I enjoy anytime I get use my recprocating saw! The unit was nailed in, and it was impossible to get them out. I simply sawed around the frame of the unit and let it fall the 8 feet or so to the floor!
Poor Rachel seemed to get hurt everytime she lended a hand, as she hit her head a few times and even was shocked by an exposed switch. This added tension to the situation, and we argued most of the day. I’m sorry baby.
Installation was simple, but very drawn out due to the heat of the attic (which I was in most of the time). I had to add some framing to the existing opening, as it was too large for the new stairs.
Everything but the finish work (trim and painting) was completed in roughly 5 hours. I plan on completing this tomorrow.
I broke one tool, which was a cheap thing from big-lots, but it did bring up a possible new tool purchase. My drill was pushed to it’s limits and may need to be replaced should I do anything as heavy as this in the future.
It’s okay. I’m still alive! Perhaps we can’t do many laborous home improvement projects together :-).