Loft Hatch issue

daggy

Hi everyone,

We're currently fitting a youngman eco s line wooden loft ladder and hatch and we've hit a snag.

The frame is fixed in place flush against a joist, but the loft hatch door will not close; it appears to be out of square so one corner does not fit inside the frame....

Is anybody able to offer any assistance?

Possibly the hinge side of the frame out of square? It's flush against the beam though, so that's confusing. meh.

Thanks in advance. :beer:

Norman_Castle

Presumably before fitting the hatch closed inside the frame. If you have fitted both a side and an end of the frame to ceiling joists unscrew the end and one side and adjust the frame so that it fits the hatch. Ceiling joists are unlikely to be perfectly square.

daggy

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Presumably before fitting the hatch closed inside the frame. If you have fitted both a side and an end of the frame to ceiling joists unscrew the end and one side and adjust the frame so that it fits the hatch. Ceiling joists are unlikely to be perfectly square.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

To make it easy to fit, we remove the hatch from the frame before fitting...

The gf's dad fitted the same hatch at his home previously and it went in fine, so it has baffled us.
I'm being dense here... trying to get my head around what you're advising... so remove the screws from the end and side that don't fit and see if we can move it around?

Thanks.

Norman_Castle

I'm being dense here... trying to get my head around what you're advising... so remove the screws from the end and side that don't fit and see if we can move it around?

Before removing the screws from one side and both ends, fit a screw above the joist on the outside of the frame. This will support the weight. Refit the hatch and adjust the frame to fit it.

jc808

get someone in who knows what theyre doing

mbenz1

Cant help but let us know how you get on and any tips.

Also let us know what that ladder is like. Ill need to get a ladder at some point and they seem good value.

BuntyB

Basically the fitter may well have pulled the frame out of shape when tightening the fixing screws. Easily done.

Loosen off all the fixing screws a bit without un-doing them completely and see if helps

leveller2911

Agree with BuntyB. Sounds like its been fixed out of square so easiest thing to do is to measure diagonally from corner to corner. They should be exactly the same. If not start by temporary fixing one corner and work your way along the sides temp fixing as you go and slide packers in between the joist and the hatch lining to stop the lining moving as you fix it.You need to make sure the long sides are fixed so they are nice and straight,not bowed in or out.

Then check the diagonals to make sure they are equel, if so the loft hatch door should fit properly.

daggy

mbenz1 wrote: »

Cant help but let us know how you get on and any tips.

Also let us know what that ladder is like. Ill need to get a ladder at some point and they seem good value.

Erm the ladder itself is good quality, but the instructions are not the best.... possible quality control issues which I'll come onto soon.

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Before removing the screws from one side and both ends, fit a screw above the joist on the outside of the frame. This will support the weight. Refit the hatch and adjust the frame to fit it.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it. We gave up in the end and just completely removed it again... was bugging us

leveller2911 wrote: »

Agree with BuntyB. Sounds like its been fixed out of square so easiest thing to do is to measure diagonally from corner to corner. They should be exactly the same. If not start by temporary fixing one corner and work your way along the sides temp fixing as you go and slide packers in between the joist and the hatch lining to stop the lining moving as you fix it.You need to make sure the long sides are fixed so they are nice and straight,not bowed in or out.

Then check the diagonals to make sure they are equel, if so the loft hatch door should fit properly.

Thanks, yeah I bought a pack of those plastic shims from screwfix; we removed the hatch and reset it using those, this sorted it out no problem.

So the whole thing is fitted and operating nice, but alas there is now a problem.

The two pre-drilled holes in the frame are not in the same place, subsequently only one arm has been taking the load etc.... I was up it before and the screws has been partially ripped out of the hatch....

I can't fathom why the fixing points on the each side of the frame would be drilled in a different place.

I treble checked the screws in the hatch before using it, so they were definitely screwed tight...driver was on a high torque settings and I double checked with a hand held.

Does it sound line poor QC? One hole is 21.5 from the side and the other is 23.5.

I'm generally pretty good at stuff like this, but this loft hatch is doing my nut in.

Thanks again for all the help.

daggy

jc808 wrote: »

get someone in who knows what theyre doing

Yeah, thanks for that....:wall::shhh: If everybody had your mentality this forum would be dead.

Norman_Castle

The two pre-drilled holes in the frame are not in the same place, subsequently only one arm has been taking the load etc.... I was up it before and the screws has been partially ripped out of the hatch...

Most of your weight should be taken by the ladder, not the arms. Have you cut the ladder too short?. On mine the ladder can be loosened and slid up and down the hatch a few inches.