You say attic, I say Attica

The old (broken) attic access stairs, in the process of removal.

 One of the "infrastructure" projects that needed to be done on the fixer upper, was replacing the old, broken attic access stairs.

So, I went to Lowes and purchased a replacement. I opted for the aluminum stair variety because they were rated for heavier weight and because they were actually lighter than the wooden variety.

Normally, installing replacement attic stairs is a two person job. Given my recent experience, I would advise that you follow the "two person" recommendation. However, I had read through the installation instructions, and I had a pretty good plan for how I could install them by myself.

After I had taken out the old, broken access stairs (which proved to be as hard as installing the new stairs), I started executing my "self installation" plan.

In my defense, everything went beautifully with the plan. I was able to lift the new pull down stairs up into the attic through the empty hole using a scaffolding of multiple step ladders. After the new stairs were up in the attic, I installed the temporary cross braces that would hold the new stairs in the hole while I bolted them to the frame. Of course, to bolt the new stairs to the frame, you have to be up in the attic to lower the new stairs onto the temporary braces.

I crawled into the attic through the empty hole from my step ladder, lowered the new stairs onto the temporary braces and bolted them in.

Violia! The new stairs were installed.

However, that was about the point that I realized that I couldn't open the new stairs from inside the attic, because the temporary braces were in the way.

Luckily, I had my cell phone with me. I was able to call my oldest daughter's fiance that lives in a condo a few blocks away. Fortunately he was home and available to come over to the house and remove the temporary braces from the opening so that I could open the new access stairs and climb out.

Turns out, when I went back and looked at the installation plans, you are only supposed to overlap the temporary braces by 3/8", just enough to hold the stairs up by their frame and still leave enough room to be able to open the new stairs after you bolt them in. The devil is always in the details.

It was such a good plan ...up to the point that I imprisoned myself.

The newly installed attic access stairs.