Attic Access Question

[MountainDon]

Here's my situation. The cabin has a non storage attic, no loft. I do not want an access hatch in the ceiling although I have though of placing an access panel in the ceiling of the small bathroom. I vacillate on that.   

I have framed a 24 x 30 inch opening in the west gable end wall (pictured) and a 32 x 30 in the west gable end. Once the ceiling is installed we're going to blown in a bunch of cellulose. At that point the 24 x 32 end can be sealed off. Without having a ceiling access hatch I'd want to retain access if/when needed via the 32 x 30 opening. But I also want it to be rainproof. 

What would you do? Go for the ceiling as it's easier? Make an door? What? How?

One last note: the ceiling option is complicated slightly as the ceiling joists are on 16 inch centers. So to make that work there would have to be some changes made. The ceiling is still wide open so not too big a deal on that.

[PEG688]

  If you don't need or want it to act as a gable end vent why not just paper over the hole, do a wood trim similar to what ever your doing around your exterior doors and maybe windows. Do the border say 1" wider than that opening, put a slanted/ beveled sill piece on it so water sheds off, then use a MDO plywood "door" thats really a flat panel, be creative do a cross buck out of 1x2's (or what ever suits your fancy) maybe paint a moon on it like a out house door with black paint. Then just attach the "door" with some stainless steel screws.

You'll never have to get into that attic if your lucky , but IF you do you can just unscrew the "door" and still get in.

Hope that makes sense.


Keep you paper tight 

Lookin good, very clean site, just like Glenn's jobs eh   
     

[MountainDon]

Lookin good, very clean site, just like Glenn's jobs eh   

   Thanks

Well, One of my thoughts was right along those "panel door" lines... The gable ends will be some sort of wood grained panel, maybe HardiPanel if we do the siding in HardiPlank. (Thinking of those because of the wildfire danger.)    I'd also been thinking of placing a gable vent in the panel, in which case I'd leave the opening clear, but flash the edges.

Probably the simplest solution... just wondering what others may think of.




Nobody has asked why 16 inch OC ceiling joists (and rafters). Not yet.

[OldDog]

OK Don, I'll Bite!     Why 16"?

Thats what mine are so I never noticed.

Bruce

[glenn kangiser]

PEG, did I post a messy picture?  Dang -- I usually try to keep them hidden from you.

To my credit, I have been cleaning up the area at my customers site upon leaving --guess you taught me something. 

[PEG688]

Well, One of my thoughts was right along those "panel door" lines... The gable ends will be some sort of wood grained panel, maybe HardiPanel if we do the siding in HardiPlank. (Thinking of those because of the wildfire danger.)   

I'd also been thinking of placing a gable vent in the panel, in which case I'd leave the opening clear, but flash the edges.

Humm with the fire thing I'd say ridge vent it( the attic) and go with a solid Hardi panel for the hatch. I didn't factor in the fire danger, BUT would think the ridge venting would be the best defence against fire, heat would build up on that wall and  fire would climb in that  gable end vent easier than a ridge vent.

16 OC seems normal to me, maybe snow load , type of ceiling materials you intend to use  drove it.

Glad to hear I helped "clean up your act Glenn"

[MountainDon]

16 OC seems normal to me, maybe snow load , type of ceiling materials you intend to use  drove it.

I've seen so much 24"OC for ceilings and rafters I thought that 24" was more usual/normal.  So maybe I'm not as odd as I thought?   

I did the 16" on ceiling  joists and rafters for possible, bad year, snow load. The calculator says the rafters are good for up to 90 lbs snow load. I doubt it'll ever reach that, ever.

Plus the ceiling joists could be smaller and I actually saved a few dollars on the ceiling lumber. When I was walking around on the temporary decking there didn't seem to be any bounce at all.

[MountainDon]

Humm with the fire thing I'd say ridge vent it( the attic) and go with a solid Hardi panel for the hatch. I didn't factor in the fire danger, BUT would think the ridge venting would be the best defense against fire, heat would build up on that wall and  fire would climb in that  gable end vent easier than a ridge vent.

I'm not sure just what to think about the fire danger at present. With all the cleaning up of ground debris and the thinning we've done the danger on our property is much less than it was last year. There's virtually nothing much on the ground that will burn. There's some grass, but not much. Then there are tall 55 to 70 foot pines. That's in the area near the cabin/shed site. There are scrubby oaks farther down the slope, but they're no real present hazard. We've done away with pretty much all the "ladder" growth... that's the fuel that could make a low level grass fire leap up into the tree tops. (A person should remove all the dead branches that pines, spruce and firs normally have on the lower trunk... those will ladder a ground fire up.)

So fire throry says that without burnable ground cover the building should be much safer.

Nice thing too is that the National Forest is being thinned up to a point very close to our property. That could make a big difference in some future year. By mid September the contractor should have thinned close to a thousand nearby acres. He's got a humongous grinder that shreds anything too small for lumber or salable firewood.

[ScottA]

Maybe a dumb idea but how bout a couple of cheap windows. You could open them in the summer for extra venting during warm weather.

[MountainDon]

That's an unusual idea Scott. I'm not certain how it would be in practice though.

MTL, I'll go with a panel, with a vent, secured with screws.

Thanks.

[glenn kangiser]

I was thinking of a nice screened louvered vent door over the entire thing - removable with screws for emergency access.  May not fit your deco ideas though.

[MountainDon]

That would certainly provide ample ventilation. About 3 - 4 times as much as necessary.    It would work.

[glenn kangiser]

I never was much with the numbers, Don -- you could block off part of it --- say some  faux louvers.

[TheWire]

What kind of siding are you using.  I had the same problem on my log home.  One gable was 12" board and batten.  I put OSB (recessed to the studs) & building felt over my outside attic opening and angle cut across 2 of the siding peices so they would shed water.  The seam from the angle cut it just under the opening.  Its nearly invisible and I can unscrew the 2 battens, siding boards and OSB to get access.

Jerry

[MountainDon]

Thanks Jerry.

We're likely going to be using either Hardi-Panel or perhaps Hardi-Shingles on the gable ends