Andrew wrote:
Did you check the ceiling for signs of sagging ?.
If you need a hoist to get stuff into and out of the loft
then either, you are putting too much weight up there, or
you are too old to get it back down again safely anyway.

It depends a lot on the angles.

Went from somewhere with a 60 degree ladder (easy - walk up it carrying
whatever, much like stairs)

to no ladder (erect a stepladder, do roughly the same thing, making very
sure you don't knock over the ladder in the process. Loft was unboarded so
just place things from where you can reach at the top of the stepladder)

to a vertical ladder (two step process: carry thing up three steps of
ladder, push onto first board next to loft hatch. Ascend rest of ladder,
collect thing from ledge, move into loft. Descend, repeat for next item)


In the last case a pulley would have made it much more efficient as you
could do the first step entirely from the ground, and mean you avoid having
to carry something up a vertical ladder.

Theo