How To Replace an Attic Cord with an easy Hook and Pull

One of the little, irritating things that had bothered me in our home – for the past SIX years – was the cord for the pull down attic ladder on our second story ceiling.  I know, I know.  There are much bigger things in life to worry about, right?  But this cord wore me out.  Not only was it annoying that it was just hanging there, but the builder’s crew managed to paint it beige when they were spraying our house before we moved in.  With some added dust on top of it, it just looked gross and dirty.

One morning, I woke up and said, “That’s it.  I’m done with it.”  I went to Home Depot and bought a screw in ceiling hook, two washers, and a wing nut that would fit on the ceiling hook.  It cost about $3 in total.

I snipped off the cord pull from the attic and drilled the hole it was in to be a little wider to fit my hook.

Then, I added a washer to the hook and put the hook through the hole.

The screw just barely clears the wood on the backside of my attic door.  But, it was enough to add another washer and the wing nut to keep the hook secure.

At Home Depot, I also bought a 3/8″ wood dowel and drilled a hole into the end of it.  I screwed a screw hook into the end of it to use for a pull.  We had a whole box of those screw hooks in our garage for some reason, but they are really cheap to purchase if you don’t have random stockpiles like me.

I can use the dowel to pull down the attic door from its new hook instead of having that dirty string hanging there all the time.  I also use the dowel to push the attic door back up to the ceiling.

I store the dowel pull in the bathroom closet, so it’s easy to find when I need it.  It’s hidden away – and no more ugly cord!

You can buy “attic pull conversion kits” online, but they are over $20.  I spent less than $8.  Boom.

Do you have attic access in your ceiling?  Do you have a pull cord or a hook on the door?