The pull down attic ladder is not self closing.
Garage attic ladder fire code.
But codes can vary from county to county and this might be one of those.
What if there is a garage fire when the ladder is extended and left in the open position.
Most homes have a 1 2 drywall panel installed in the attic access opening which is fine.
Contrary to popular belief acceptance and use the attic access is for fire personnel only and is not meant for even incidental storage.
We do not allow door stops on the garage door.
Combustion air also called make up air can also be provided by a vent through the wall.
Shown below is an example of what not to do a grille cut into pull down attic ladder and an example of the right way to add a vent a register in the ceiling of garage that connects directly to a roof vent via a metal duct viewed from the attic.
Shared attic space is where the garage attic and living space attic has no fire break fire wall which continues from the garage wall s up to the underside of the roof to separate garage attic from living space attic.
Wooden pull down stairs do not comply with todays fire rating standards if there is no fire break that separates the garage.
Here are my concerns with adding 5 8 type x drywall to the pull down attic ladder in the ceiling of the garage which is the required modified firewall.
The only time it is required is if the garage attic is separated from the house attic.
Install them after final inspection and assume the liability.
A literal host of code requirements come to mind.
But when you put something else in the opening it must be equivalent to 1 2 drywall which has roughly a 20 minute fire resistance.
The easiest way to do this is to replace the access door itself to be fire rated and simply retrofit the ladder to it.
The international residential code irc is similar.
Permanently installed pull down attic access ladders code violation.