You may have your loft conversion ready and think you’ve pretty much got all your work cut out for you. But until you have a loft ladder securely installed into your hatch, you’re still not done. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to loft ladders, so there are plenty of factors to consider when choosing a loft ladder for your home. This, of course, results in a great amount of customisation available. But regardless of the type of loft ladder you want, one thing that you definitely need to deliberate on very carefully are the measurements of your ladder.
Before you start measuring for a loft ladder
Though there are a number of loft ladder types to choose from, there are two basic categories into which your loft ladder may fall – folding loft ladders and sliding loft ladders. How you measure your loft ladders remains mostly the same regardless of the type, though there are several elements of measurement that can be unique to one category of the two. So save yourself some time by determining what type of loft ladder you want before you go into detail about what measurements you need to take.
The loft ladders measurements
When you think about measuring a loft ladder, you would not be far off in thinking that you need to get the ladder width, ladder height, and ladder angle written down in order to be ready to pick your individual loft ladder. And while that’s a good start, the actual measurements you need are a bit more precise than that. They include:
- Floor-to-ceiling height,
- Floor-to-floor height,
- Loft opening dimensions (these work differently for ladders that come with a hatch),
- Vertical and horizontal clearance,
- Swing clearance,
- Landing space.
Here is a more detailed guide on each of the above factors so that you can take the most precise measurements possible for your loft ladder.
Floor-to-ceiling height
The name here is quite self-explanatory – this measurement is the distance from the floor, the place where your ladder will rest when extended, to the ceiling of that room. This measurement is required for most folding loft ladder models, as you need to know how far your ladder can fold out (it’s not as important with sliding ladders). A loft ladder’s specifications will usually give you the minimal and maximum floor-to-ceiling heights for the product so that you can be sure that you have enough room for it.
Floor-to-floor height
Though similar to the previous measurement, there is a subtle yet crucial difference to this one. It measures the distance from the floor where the ladder will rest to the floor of the loft above it. Sliding loft ladders usually require this measurement, as the ladder itself has to be fixed to a floor. As with the floor-to-ceiling measurement, ladders come with a specification denoting the minimal and maximum number this measurement may have for the ladder to function.
Loft opening dimensions
The loft opening is the hole in your loft floor where your ladder and hatch will be installed. Depending on the size of your loft ladder and the position of joints, etc., there is a possibility that this opening will have to be expanded, so make sure to calculate the limit on how big the opening can be made. Required for sliding loft ladders, the sizes, such as the loft ladder width, will be specified on a loft ladder’s specification page.
Loft opening dimensions (ladders with hatches supplied)
The situation is a bit different if your ladder comes equipped with a hatch from the beginning. Their size is pretty much fixed from the beginning, so you have to take very exact measurements to match the size of the existing hatch. Measuring your maximum loft opening size will help you determine whether the ladder of your choosing will fit.
Vertical and horizontal clearance
This measurement describes the distance in your loft space from the hinge side of your hatch to its nearest obstructions, both in a vertical and horizontal plane. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a roof, boiler, or any other obstructions.
Swing clearance
This denotes the arc that folding ladders move along as they retract into the loft, regardless of their angle in reference to the floors. If your swing clearance is too small, you will have trouble folding your ladder correctly, even if it functions well otherwise. Measure the distance form the hinge end of the hatch to the nearest obstruction to get this measurement.
Landing space
This specification uses the same measurement as before, but this time it pertains to sliding loft ladders and gauges whether they have enough room to rest their feet on the floor when fully extended. The distance can be measured horizontally on the floor.
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