My contractor in Portland kept saying a straight loft ladder was too steep for daily use, but after 9 months of hauling laundry up this thing I honestly think he just didn't want to build the right angle, so has anyone else gotten bad advice from a pro who was just being lazy?
When I built my 420 sq ft place in Asheville last spring, I went back and forth on how to get up to the sleeping loft. Spiral stairs look cool and feel more like a real house, but they eat up about 16 sq ft of floor space on the bottom level. That's a whole corner I couldn't use for my kitchen cart or a little reading nook. I finally swapped to a steep alternating tread ladder from a local metal shop, cost me $340 with mounting hardware. The angle is around 70 degrees so it takes some getting used to, but I can actually store bins underneath it now. Climbing up with a coffee mug in hand is still risky, so I use a backpack in the mornings. Has anyone else made the switch and gone back? I'm curious if the spiral's comfort wins out for others.
I measured the opening three separate times, but the angle on my 62 degree ladder ended up blocking the window in my 8 foot loft. Has anyone else dealt with ladder placement eating up wall space, or did you just go with a straight ship ladder instead?
I was planning a curved kitchen counter for my 180 sq ft build in Austin and kept messing up the corner measurements. My dad handed me his old cloth tape measure and told me to bend it around the wall corner instead of guessing with the stiff metal one. That little flex made the radius calculation so much easier, I cut the countertop once and it fit perfectly. I used to think any tape worked, but now I keep a cloth one in my tool pouch for all the tight spots. Anyone else found a basic tool that saves them more time than the fancy stuff?