Thanks so much for taking the time to do this video, and the other stairbuilding videos. Always very helpful. I especially appreciate how you point out possible points of failure and caution against doing it in certain unwise ways you have seen in your experience. Blessings!

Phenomenal work. Exactly what I was looking for. Putting a trap door/stair ladder going from livingroom into basement

Mate you’re a saviour. Just watching your lovely video ideas I decided to do it myself in an old Welsh miners cottage. Perfect. Take care of yourself

Just bought a house, so gobbling up this stuff. Will need an expanded hatch to lift and cutting rafters for skylight. Very informative.

This video was an EXCELLENT Explanation of different situations and how to adjust the opening to fit the attic ladder. THANK YOU 😎👍🏼

Muchas gracias!! Por compartir tus conocimientos para mi fue de gran ayuda .

brilliant video and chat, thank you so much. You make it very clear.

Any way to show the math or simulation of what loading would look like? I get it intuitively, but the engineer in me wants to feel sure.

Helpful video, cheers.

Thinking about adding a small hatch with ladder to access my basement from livingroom. Was afraid I couldn't cut multiple floor joist for opening. Looks like it's doable now. Assuming I have to put floor jacks in for temporary support as I cut the 2 floor joist for a 48" long opening? Now I just need to research the steepest stair/ladder so it doesn't take up much room in my 250sqft basement.

Thank you for all of your examples. I have a joist that happens to span over a wall and existing contractors added some 2x4 horizontally half over the wall and half into the room to support blocking hanging dry wall in the ceiling. If you wanted, needed to attach a joist to an existing joist where there is drywall blocking covering the bottom 1 1/2" of an existing joist, is it okay just to notch into the joist you are attaching? I think obviously it is better to notch into the existing dry wall blocking and hope you don't run into any existing dry wall screws where you notch out the 1 1/2" noyxh for the new joist to slip in.mayne look for zome special hangers that can acomodate the 1 1/2" blocking at the bottom or perhaps make the notch wider if usimg hangers. Jusy wondering if we have equivakent options thatbwould both be sound even though one may be better thannthe other from a structural point of view. Would you know if they would still meet code? One thought is that as long as you follow joist notching rules it should be okay. Separately instead of structural joist hangers could you use structural screws and either toe nail them in with a certain pattern and certain length depth screws? Could you attatch a cross joist through an existing joist with long enough and stronf enough screws to the ends of the joists on tbe off chance there isnt enough room to atratch hangers because due to location of whereuou want to put it there isn't enough space fir hammering in nails or screwing in screws. Separately if you are just going to add a doubler joist to frame out what dimensions you need instead of doubling an existing joist, lets say existing joists are 2x6 nominal. Could you just add a 4x6 joist nominal? I know on the 4 side you have an extra 1/2" due to the 4 side being 3.5" actual where if you put two 2x6 together ti make a doubler, actual thickness is two 1.5" which gets you actual 3". In you example you have a beam in tbe middle if the garage. Could you provide an example of what if the beam instead is a load bearing 2x4 walls with 2x6 x14' joists spanning a 13 ft span of opening. inner stud to inner stud tbat has a span. I see existing fra

great explanation,Thanks

The internet is amazing. Thank you for this.

Great video!! does the same principles apply to an engineered truss as opposed to standard rafters?

Perfect video! If you're trying to sister the joists in an existing structure and cannot get a full length joist up can you cut them in half and make up for the break by additional fasteners, glue, or even an overlapping 3rd joist that spans the break?

Just to confirm, instead of doublers, you could go with a 4x piece of lumber, correct? And as far as the nails or screws to attatch the wood, windering if you could go over options for that instead of using hangars. E.g. perhsps using structural screws for exanple and the minimum thickness and length and or rating you shoukd be looking fir fir sheer forces.

Also deoending on how close your cross joists are to a beam or rim joist there are some practical distances needed to be able to secure hangars to secure cross joists(not sure what to call them) as hangars ususlly want some toe nail/screws through the hangar. You not only hsve the length of the fastener to deal with but the nail or screw gun as well. Even with right angled bits it is tough and you msy not get enough torque with those. I saw your example of using spacer blocks. That makes sense and I think could address that. Is there a maximum amount of width for spacer blocks? Thinking maybe you could use a 4x iece of lumber then rip down to your exact needs if very close to a beam. It wouls be great if you could go over recommended screw patterns to attatch these types if spacers. Length/type/thickness of fasteners (e. G. Structural screws, lag bolts etc)

Great video! I'm trying to frame out an attic access into our existing framing. They are 2x4 rafters spaced 22.5" wide. My stairs require a 22.5" wide opening, so that works out well. Would I just add a doubler on the short sides to create that opening or would I have to add extra support to the rafters as well?

Can you help with designing a modern full bathroom lay out for old house with long narrow space. I can give you the measurements. I have noticed their are many requests from people in the same situation on how to set up a good efficient bathroom with tub, shower, toilet, vanity the standard stuff all in an old house with huge window at one end. It’s been frustrating and the bathroom at a standstill for a year now because I just don’t have the vision to place the items in the space.

thank you so much for your detail explanation , and I have a question , : by using the same method, can I make the opening or access for 3ft X 3ft ? because I need to have wide opening to put the stuff into my attic.

Good vid

Have joists 16" on center and want to run the ladder parallel with the joists. Suggestions on how to modify framing to fit a 22.5" opening?

Thank you for your video. I’m about to install my own attic ladder. The layout of my house is such that the positioning suggests I should cut 2 joists to position the ladder optimally. This has me concerned. I’ve seen videos where one joist is cut and there is another board anchored above to ensure the ceiling doesn’t sag. Ive seen in other videos and yours the doubling of joist which I can do around the frame but not the length of the whole house. Is it enough to double up the front and back of the attic latter hole? From another video I’ve seen it seems I might connect the cut joists together with other unaffected joists to maintain structural integrity. Please share your thoughts and insights. Any help I’d appreciated.

thanks for this. exactly what i needed. seems perfect for openings running parallel with ceiling joists. but the methods at 5:35 ff for transverse openings don't "seem" adequate structurally. to my intuition if you're going to open a span of cutting through three joists, then the adjacent full-length joists should be tripled instead of doubled. or perhaps doubling the next pair of full-length joists also (same added lumber as tripling, just spread out).

I have purlin braces and rafter for the other half of the house so the doublers can't be both right next to the joust and on the top plates.. Would it be quadrupling up the joist to get over the top plates? Or put a new joust halfway between the existing and extend a double header? Would the new joist need to be a double?

QUESTION: Can you make a video for staircase openings that are on a skewed angle to the joists?

Ok great video has given me ideas… here’s my problem I built a golf simulator in my garage but the exposed ceiling joists get clattered by my 3 wood and driver as not enough head room, my swing follow through is always in the same area..your video has me thinking I could make a large box frame in that area of the ceiling joist that are getting in my way, maybe 6 feet long by 5 feet wide on one side of my garage, is there limits on how large I could make the hatch?

Option 2- is this sufficient for the tie strength for the roof rafters since you are interrupting them with the opening? thanks

Question- I just bought a house and upon inspecting the attic stairs, noticed they did no use double board system where the header of stairs attaches and only 4 nails. Would you suggest taking whole system down and starting over? Or I was thinking cutting an additional board and securing in place and replacing the nails with bolts running through both boards? Hope that makes sense. Thank you for your time

I understand this video is specifically referring to framing an opening for pull-down stairs, but surely it is a similar process framing for a full-size staircase? I would like to add a stairwell to my attic, and it would be going perpendicular to the ceiling joists, in the center of the house. As such, one side of the staircase will be next to the middle (load-bearing) wall of the house where the ceiling joists connect for each side. I presume I need to frame out a box which is perpendicular to the joists as in your example later in this video. I understand I will need to employ some engineering to make up for the fact that I am cutting into the ceiling joists. Is it correct to assume that the side of the house that I have not cut into the ceiling joists will be completely unaffected by the other side being cut? I am specifically worried about the integrity of the attic roof rafters because the ceiling joists act as rafter ties for my roof. Is such framing (using doubling of boards-headers-etc) appropriately distributing the roof rafter load to the newly cut joists positions? My plan is to have the stairwell ascend from the back side of the house and the top of the staircase will be about in the center of the house/attic floor. Would it also be necessary to add load-supporting vertical posts to support the unsupported side of the framing which is not the middle, load-bearing wall of the house? If so, do I need such vertical support beams to go into their own concrete foundation in the crawlspace of the house? If you manage to see this comment, and can take the time to read it and reply, I would really appreciate you taking the time. Dexter

Do I have this right: ceiling joists on a single story house tie the rafters, and hold up the drywall for a ceiling. As such there is tension keeping the roof from pushing out the exterior walls, and there is some load on them. If I want to reframe the ceiling joists above the microwave to allow for a vent to go straight up, will the hanger ties be sufficient enough for the tension on the joists. Will the framing in this video work to reframe for a vent?

Do you have any thoughts on reinforcing a 44” square opening in the corner of a room? Are there any special considerations when creating the opening in a corner? I’m putting a spiral staircase in the belltower of an old church!

Is it recommended to install an attic ladder when joists in garage are 2x4 spaced 22.5" with a span of 20 feet (rafters)? I have concerns whether it will hold the weight of a person and the ladder or am I being over cautious.

So is it possible to make an existing attic ladder opening longer and wider? I’m going from a 20x54 to a 25x62, bought it second hand but the ladder is brand new, couldn’t pass up the deal.

Do I have to nail the 2 beams together? And then add a hanger?

I'm planning on adding an opening to my garage ceiling. I want to double up the joists without removing the existing single hangers. Can I place a similar szed board in between as a spacer and use more single hangers?

Just wondering how you get the joist in the finished ceiling ladder hole

Can anyone give me help on how I would do this, BUT, I still need to add rafter ties. My issue stems from the fact that my floor joists won't run parallel to the my rafters, which means I still need to add rafter ties. I thought about adding my rafter ties first and then adding my 2 x 10 floor joists above that and then putting down the plywood floor. Help??

How do you do this if you have 12" engineered OSB I Beams with a flange

How does this deal with roof thrust, in a typical framing situation? Do the joist hangers and doubler take the thrust and transfer it to the other ceiling joists? Just trying to understand conventional framing

Would doubling the joist be necessary if you’re not using the attic space for storage? Just installing the attic stairs only for access to attic.

What about if you have to cut through a truss? Same thing?

What about when your joists are trusses?

It seems like a great video, but since I’m just a DIY person I’m confused about one BIG aspect. This video seems to show how to make all the double joists, and reinforce them etc, but it’s skipping over the steps of HOW you cut the original joists without the ceiling falling and losing any structural integrity? It JUMPS right from the original ceiling rafters, into the revised version, without showing you, how to temporary support the load bearing while you’re cutting & removing the original factor spacing.

I'm planning on installing a pull down attic ladder in my hallway. What's your email where I can best reach you? I wanna show you my attic and my hallway. I would like to get some advice and if it's possible to do it in my ceiling. Thanks

NOT 1 video on youtube - have I found that states "you need "X" amount of inches from your pull down end to any beam !!!! I installed mine - with pull down end at a beam - installed my unit & it would NOT pull down - geometry / trigonometry (???) will not NOT let unit come down far enough to triple hinge out - it hits the beam :-(((((((