Ridiculously Easy Loft Ladder For Tiny Houses

One aspect of our hOMe build that we hadn’t put a lot of thought into (until it was the last minute) was our ladder to our Lounge loft. By the time we really needed one, we were tired from 3 months of building and feeling frugal after so many expenses. The idea of creating a custom ladder was more than we could bear. We needed something easy, safe, inexpensive and quick to put together. In strolling the aisles of our lumber yard we stopped at the attic ladder section and on a whim bought one for $105. We took a risk with the purchase but have been delighted since. In this article we outline how to make a ridiculously easy loft ladder for tiny houses using attic ladders.

Our hOMe Lounge ladder looked exactly like this when we bought it.

1. Buy a wood attic ladder. Make sure that when extended the length is long enough to meet your own loft needs. For us in hOMe, just the smallest ladder was more than enough. We chose wood so that we could cut it to length easily but aluminum ones do exist.

2. Bring out your demolition tools and start hacking away at all the pieces attached to the ladder itself. There were a couple of set pins that were stubborn but with some attitude we were able to knock them out. Mind you, this isn’t exactly the most environmentally sound option because you will essentially be using just a portion of the overall product. Ideally you have a use for the left over wood.

Two simple hooks were attached to the ladder itself.

3. Attach two hooks to the ladder that will adequately fit over the black pipe (gas line pipe) that you will eventually be hanging your ladder onto. Make sure to predrill your holes for the screws. The wood is pretty thin and splits easily if you don’t do this step.

4. Cut your ladder to length. Don’t make your ladder so short that your angle is too steep. You should be able to walk up and down your loft ladder easily.

5. Stain or paint your ladder as desired. In hOMe we simply used leftover window trim black stain. We put one coat of varnish on top for added protection.

Inexpensive black (gas line) pipe is used as the rails for the loft ladder to hang from

6. Attach the black pipe (we used 1/2″) to your loft face with two simple stainless steel 2 hole rigid conduit strap. In hOMe we actually have two of these ladder hangers. One for the ladder when it’s down and one to hang the ladder when we want it totally out of the way and flat against the wall. Make sure to attach wood blocks underneath the black pipe so that your ladder hooks have enough space to slide into.

That’s it! Simple as can be. Other options do exist but what we really like about this one is that it’s extremely light weight but totally sturdy. Even tall, large men can get up and down the ladder without any issue. We also like that this is something available in any large hardware store so there is no need for a special order. Lastly, we actually really like the way that it looks. The lines are clean and simple and work within hOMe’s aesthetics really well we think. Though we had initially thought that this would be a temporary solution, we see absolutely no reason whatsoever to change it at any point.

Getting up and down this ladder is easy and safe even for 6′ tall Andrew

When hanging on the wall, the ladder is totally out of the way and opens the space up a lot

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