"aemeijers" wrote in message
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"MiamiCuse" wrote in message
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"aemeijers" wrote in message
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"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
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MiamiCuse wrote:
I have noticed that older houses typically have smaller access holes.
My 1992 house the access to the attic opening is about 26"x26", and
my 1972 house have five access holes to the attic and each one is
only about 16"x16". This is too small for many people to get through
- electricians, pest control etc...

Does this mean in general the population is getting bigger over the
years?
MC

It means the framing is different and the newer construction is
likely using engineered framing and it has different spacing.

Shrug. Usually means the builder was cheap, or the designer never
actually swung a hammer, and was trying to shave pennies to hit a price
point. One summer as a kid, I worked for a builder throwing up low-end
cookie cutters. These places had a roof overhang in front, and 3 feet
down the sides, but then cut back to no overhang. All to save a few
bucks on the roof system. As to attic access holes- these places had
16x20, in a small closet above the shelf. This 1960 cookie cutter I am
in is pretty good for access- 24x24, in the hall at attic centerline. My
other house, we put in a pull-down stair, headered off properly.

I'd hate to have me for a customer- I grew up in the business, with a
good designer for a father. Sadly, I didn't inherit his talent, but it
was a good education in what is and isn't good design and workmanship.

aem sends....


It is the framing, the joists are 16" apart so the hole is 16". However
I don't think this is cost related. This one is a custom built house and
I do not see anywhere choices being made there were directly cost
related. Even the access itself it was using a standard cover - metal
with hindges, you loosen a butterfly screw, the cover swings down and
hang by it's hinges, and you get in. These seem like standard access
plates that are 16x16. May be it was an after thought someone forgot to
put them in and had to put in after the fact.

MC
Huh. Never seen 16x16 metal access hatches used for a man-way inside, only
for access to mechanicals right above the hole. (sprinkler valves, etc.)

If they frame in a hole before the rock goes up, it isn't a big deal,
unless the roof uses trusses. With those, you are pretty much limited to
the truss spacing, but can go longer in the other direction. If, like you
said, this was an oopsie discovered when the punch list was run, maybe
they did take the quick and dirty approach. Attic access is almost always
a panel you push up, not a door that drops down, unless there is a
staircase attached to the top of it.

Following up my own post here- my favorite attic access method for
single-story ranches is how my father used to do it on the houses he built-
instead of having a tall basement stairwell that catches cobwebs, with a
light too high up to change the bulb, he would put a closet backing up to
the basement stairs, and frame in an actual stairway up to the attic hatch.
All you had to do to get up there was take the stuff off the closet rod in
front of it, and walk up till your head pushed the hatch cover out of the
way. A clever use of what is usually dead space, and the people who he was
designing the houses for pretty much all loved it.

aem sends...