atticstairswalls
I'm looking for a nice way to make a stairs for loft bed in the apartment. I definitely want to use space under stairs for storage but I don't want to use all space.
I like an idea shown here (photos below and video).
I have larger room so I'd like to have wider stairs about 500-600mm (in case if that doesn't affect strength of a construction).
Does anyone know how to mount stairs that way? Thanks 🙂
The 2X4's you are looking at are collar ties attached to the end of the rafters and span wall to wall. They are really only strong enough to support ceiling materials, not a live load. The new floor joists will need to rest on the upper wall plate (load bearing) adjacent to a rafter, and cross supported.
The items you need to determine are span, joist spacing and material to be used as floor joists. This link shows a chart in feet and inches for you application: http://www.the-house-plans-guide.com/joist-span-tables.html. Even on short spans, I would never go any smaller than 2X8's to assure a flex free floor.
The second issue you will face is insulating the roof. The size of your rafters are going to dictate how much insulation you can install. If they are less that say, 2X10, you will not be able to get a good R-value. You may have to consider maxing out the cavities with blanket insulation, then also adding some 2 inch rigid foam sheets over the entire field to increase the total R value. You could then install strapping (purlins), with long screws, to mount drywall to. In this kind of roof design, there would be no venting required. This is a very common type of construction on cathedral type ceilings. Good luck.
As long as the wood that you use to construct your bed frame is strong enough in its own right to be used as a bed frame you should have no problems supporting the frame from both ends by bolting into the concrete wall.
Bolts that are 1/2" in diameter should be plenty strong in shear to support a bed frame mounted in this manner. Three or four equally spaced bolts per end would give you an even distribution of support for the frame at each of the concrete walls. If you can penetrate the walls by two to three inches and install good quality anchors there should be no problems with the bolts staying tight and in place. Using a drop-in internally threaded anchor type should provide you the ability to use standard threaded bolts that can then be removed easily with the anchor staying in place in the wall. If you look at the RM-12 type you'll need 5/8 inch holes in the wall that are a minimum of 2" deep. This type of anchor also includes the need of a setting tool to expand the anchor into the concrete before installing the threaded bolts. The RM-12 offers a 3/4" thread depth.
For best application of the bed frame it would be recommended to build it to fit to the shape of the walls so that the end pieces can be solidly bolted up to the wall. If you elect to stay with the rectangular frame and then I would recommend that backer be placed behind the end piece where each bolt is located. Obviously a wedge piece, as you surmised, would be the best as a full length backer. If you do go with just backer blocks or the wedge one way to get a nice look would be to add an additional facer trim board as shown below. If the gap out of square across the width of the bed is only 1" you will never notice it once you get a matress and bedding up on the deck.
Best Answer
Well, the boxes themselves appear to be structurally adequate to carry human weight. The 3-4 inch lap between the boxes also provides some stiffness and weight bearing. The trick would be in fastening them to the walls in such a way as to withstand the large tensile (pulling) forces. A few ideas come to mind:
Decorative or hidden angle brackets, mounted to the wall and the upper surface of each step.
Dual-thread bolts, with lag threads into the wall framing, and machine thread on the extension, which would need to pass through most of the upper step panel with washer and nut applied behind the face trim.
Direct framing attachment, where the stair components are fitted around the wall framing and anchored to it. In this case, insulation and wall paneling would be fit around the stair components.
However it's done, the individual boxes need to be well-built, using an appropriate adhesive, quality sheet goods, and mechanical fasteners where possible.