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Attic Ladder lets warm air out, cold air in 1_Patriotic_Guy 01-03-2007
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Posted by 1_Patriotic_Guy on January 3, 2007, 7:00 am


Recently the hinge on my attic ladder broke and my friend welded a
reinforcement strip of metal to the hinge to prevent a repeat. The
original manufacturer's design must have been a little off because the
hinge had been bending over a long period of time.

Unfortunalely without holding it in place with an unused closet pole,
the door now hangs down about a half inch, allowing a considrable
amount of cold air into the room from the attic. I now half to close
the door to that room or let my heater attempt to "catch-up".

What are my options to solve the problem. Perhaps some sort of
decorative "latch" attached to the frame to hold the attic door to the
ceiling. Has anyone else done this? What works best? I'd like a
solution that solves the problem and still allows it to look okay. I
used wood trim previously to frame out the opening and all is painted
white. Buying a whole new attic ladder seems overkill and unneccessary
as the ladder itself works nicely otherwise and doesn't leak air (not
noticable) if fully closed.


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Posted by Doug Miller on January 3, 2007, 7:46 am


>Recently the hinge on my attic ladder broke and my friend welded a
>reinforcement strip of metal to the hinge to prevent a repeat. The
>original manufacturer's design must have been a little off because the
>hinge had been bending over a long period of time.

It's also possible that the installation was "a little off", causing the hinge
to be stressed when the ladder was operated.
>
>Unfortunalely without holding it in place with an unused closet pole,
>the door now hangs down about a half inch, allowing a considrable
>amount of cold air into the room from the attic. I now half to close
>the door to that room or let my heater attempt to "catch-up".

I guess your buddy with the welder might not have gotten things lined up quite
the way they were before...
>
>What are my options to solve the problem. Perhaps some sort of
>decorative "latch" attached to the frame to hold the attic door to the
>ceiling. Has anyone else done this? What works best? I'd like a
>solution that solves the problem and still allows it to look okay.

Buy a replacement hinge -- you can probably get one from the manufacturer.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Posted by 1_Patriotic_Guy on January 3, 2007, 8:57 am


Unfortunately, the original hinge design isn't the best. (not apparant
until ladder has been used 30 or 40 times). Menards probably supplied
their store from some overseas manufacturer that didn't test the design
properly. Buying new from the manufacturer just recreates the original
problem and I'll have another bent/broken hinge 3 years down the road.

Doug Miller wrote:
> >Recently the hinge on my attic ladder broke and my friend welded a
> >reinforcement strip of metal to the hinge to prevent a repeat. The
> >original manufacturer's design must have been a little off because the
> >hinge had been bending over a long period of time.
>
> It's also possible that the installation was "a little off", causing the hinge
> to be stressed when the ladder was operated.
> >
> >Unfortunalely without holding it in place with an unused closet pole,
> >the door now hangs down about a half inch, allowing a considrable
> >amount of cold air into the room from the attic. I now half to close
> >the door to that room or let my heater attempt to "catch-up".
>
> I guess your buddy with the welder might not have gotten things lined up quite
> the way they were before...
> >
> >What are my options to solve the problem. Perhaps some sort of
> >decorative "latch" attached to the frame to hold the attic door to the
> >ceiling. Has anyone else done this? What works best? I'd like a
> >solution that solves the problem and still allows it to look okay.
>
> Buy a replacement hinge -- you can probably get one from the manufacturer.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
>
> It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.


Posted by HeyBub on January 3, 2007, 10:01 am


1_Patriotic_Guy wrote:
> Recently the hinge on my attic ladder broke and my friend welded a
> reinforcement strip of metal to the hinge to prevent a repeat. The
> original manufacturer's design must have been a little off because the
> hinge had been bending over a long period of time.
>
> Unfortunalely without holding it in place with an unused closet pole,
> the door now hangs down about a half inch, allowing a considrable
> amount of cold air into the room from the attic. I now half to close
> the door to that room or let my heater attempt to "catch-up".
>
> What are my options to solve the problem. Perhaps some sort of
> decorative "latch" attached to the frame to hold the attic door to the
> ceiling. Has anyone else done this? What works best? I'd like a
> solution that solves the problem and still allows it to look okay. I
> used wood trim previously to frame out the opening and all is painted
> white. Buying a whole new attic ladder seems overkill and
> unneccessary as the ladder itself works nicely otherwise and doesn't
> leak air (not noticable) if fully closed.

Rig a "screen door latch?" The kind that click shut under spring tension.

Beef up the springs - perhaps they're adjustable?

A counter-weight?



Posted by Goedjn on January 3, 2007, 1:14 pm


wrote:

>1_Patriotic_Guy wrote:
>> Recently the hinge on my attic ladder broke and my friend welded a
>> reinforcement strip of metal to the hinge to prevent a repeat. The
>> original manufacturer's design must have been a little off because the
>> hinge had been bending over a long period of time.
>>
>> Unfortunalely without holding it in place with an unused closet pole,
>> the door now hangs down about a half inch, allowing a considrable
>> amount of cold air into the room from the attic. I now half to close
>> the door to that room or let my heater attempt to "catch-up".
>>
>> What are my options to solve the problem. Perhaps some sort of
>> decorative "latch" attached to the frame to hold the attic door to the
>> ceiling. Has anyone else done this? What works best? I'd like a
>> solution that solves the problem and still allows it to look okay. I
>> used wood trim previously to frame out the opening and all is painted
>> white. Buying a whole new attic ladder seems overkill and
>> unneccessary as the ladder itself works nicely otherwise and doesn't
>> leak air (not noticable) if fully closed.
>
>Rig a "screen door latch?" The kind that click shut under spring tension.
>
>Beef up the springs - perhaps they're adjustable?
>
>A counter-weight?
>

Bungie cords or a pair of long extension springs, screwed to
the first section of ladder and the roof. Or big-ass
magnets and a metal plate. How much force is needed to
keep the thing in the fully closed position?



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