Tall order!

Premier Loft Ladders were recently presented with an interesting, but tricky problem which required an urgent solution!

The client was working on a section of a top London Hotel where access was required to 2 plant rooms. The snag was that the floor to floor height was 5 metres *, and the opening in the ceiling was small and could not be extended! Furthermore, the client requested that both the ladders should be electrically operated.

After some very careful planning and design, we proposed that the Supreme stairway should be used. The top of the special “L” shaped hatchbox would be fitted into the ceiling opening with the remainder sitting under the slab. The depth of the hatchbox needed to be 900 mm to allow both for the slab depth, and the fact that the ladder would itself require at least 600 mm of vertical space when not in use. Fixed additional treads were ready fitted into the hatchbox to cover the distance from the top tread of the ladder up to the floor level in the plant room.

The client then fixed a suspended ceiling at 4100 mm to finish flush with the trapdoor level.

A pleasing answer to a difficult question!

If you have any design queries or require further assistance, then please telephone 0845 9000 195 or send an email to tim@premierloftladders.co.uk.

* "The maximum floor to underside of ceiling distance for a conventional manually operated ladder is 4850 mm, with a distance of 4600 mm for the electrically operated model. The manually operated version also requires a minimum hatch opening length of 1700 mm, whilst the electrically operated version requires a minimum hatch operating length of 1615 mm.