Attic Stair Replacement

Just had mine replaced by 911 Handyman. Definitely recommend them.

Xcoach - what did they charge you?

Baton Rouge

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I've only heard of this recently.

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I remember seeing it in new houses built in the early 2000's, not sure when it started.

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Water damage if it breaks,

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I have pans under mine with a drainage line that goes outside.

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weight on rafters

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I have never noticed this being a problem.

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pain to replace getting up there?

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I needed some attic stairs at another location. I took the regular sized ones in my garage out and replaced them with extra wide stairs. I figured the water heaters would need replacing at some point and had heard that some water heaters would not fit through the attic stairs.

WPBTiger - thanks for the input

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Do you know if they have to go outside, or can they drop in your bathroom drain. When we go tankless, our water heater will be right next to the spare bath; and I am hoping we can do this to save on cost and water travel length

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The ones in the pans for the water heaters do drain outside. My drainage line for my A/C units that are in the attic drain into the house plumbing.

I've worked on houses built in the 1960's and 1970's with attic-mounted water heaters, usually 30 - 40gal units just for the master batch but in other's they were 60 - 80gal units. One of my client's just has an 80gal NG water heater crap out, second-story attic space. No way it's going to fit through the existing attic doorway (he asked if I could just remove it to another part of the attic or cut it up and bring it down in pieces... ). He really needs to go to tankless, told him to have his plumber evaluate the gas supply to see if it would support them.

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My plumber told me his company started doing that in the early 2000s and others started in late 90s. Also said they use a solid "plex line" (I believe that is what its called) to eliminate the joints you would have with pvc. They are at risk of rodents chewing through them.

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I think you mean Pex. Our home was built in 2014 and our WH is in the garage on the slab. I would feel uneasy about the WH in the attic due to the loading and the potential for leakage.