No reputable contractor would work on a project that clearly intends to skirt the edges of the habitable space requirements. Besides, anything that you touch would scream red tag flag to the municipality. Unless you are talking putting the pull down attic stair back in and ripping off any drywall upstairs to turn it back into the full fledged attic that it was meant to be, your best bet is to leave it alone. And don't let anyone sleep up there.

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer to do things legally.

Thanks everyone for your confirmation.

What I really would like wish is a better way to get to the attic. The stairs are in the way, steep and broken. Tearing them down sounds like a good idea. We are allowed to replace them only exactly how they are.

Which prompted the ideas about moving them.

Maybe some sort of pull down stairs in another location?

I recently finished my basement, and the 78" ceiling height in my 1940 house led to some creative language for the permit. Local code requires 80" for habitable space unless its a utility room or bathroom in a basement. We already had both a utility room and bath that were original to the house, so we were finishing out the rest of the basement. We could have asked for an exception (not a variance?) for the ceiling height, but the lack of egress windows would have still limited the allowed uses.

My permit says that I finished out a "storage area", so the basement cannot be used for a bedroom, office, or family room. However, I have insulation on all exterior walls, walls are fully framed and sheetrocked, I have smoke and CO2 detectors, and the electrical outlets and lights meet all code requirements for a habitable area. I put in tamper-proof receptacles in all new areas, and there were already GFCI's in the utility and bath areas. Everything about my new work meets code requirements and is fully finished, but I if I sell the house I can only describe it as a storage area. All permits were submitted and all work was inspected and approved by the city.

I assume you could follow the same track for finishing out your attic. You can never call it anything more than an attic for storage, but that does not mean you can't put up drywall, install receptacles and lights, and finish it off to your preferences. However, I would be concerned about the 2x4 floor joists, since you may cause cracking of the ceiling below if you put anything heavy in the attic.

Bruce

Good point, Bruce. No reason I can't be safe or get permitted work done.

Yes, the joists are a concern. They've lasted 104 years but why push it ;)

I found a source of local inspiration that addresses what I was perplexed about. Woohoo! An idea to run by the architect.

http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2014/01/more_space_under_the_roof_the.html

A retired architecture professor and his wife moved their stairs and added a 12 foot dormer addition to their attic.

Their home was quite similar from the funky stairs to the joists:

Anything more than 12 feet requires seismic updating which is mega expensive here.

"The attic’s roof pitch and gable height were lower than expected and because the ceiling floor joists were not designed for a floor load, they had to be strengthened and raised.

This left only a narrow strip of useable space under the peak with sufficient headroom. A raised-roof addition was needed to create even a minimal room.

Because a stairway to the attic was never built – there was only a pull-down, attic ladder – locating a new staircase presented the next challenge. Second floor stairs are usually over cellar stairs for space-saving reasons, but this location was too narrow to meet code requirements, so a new one had to be found."

* they had enough headroom in the center of their attic, I do not. Worrisome, but worth investigating.

Their house is the first two pics are their house, the last is mine.

We put in pull-down stairs in an upstairs hall. We then put in plywood for flooring, did some insulation and non-taped drywall and put up galvanized pipe rods to hang out of season clothes. It is an ATTIC - storage space. We did not need a permit (this was MO in the late 70's). It added a great deal to our house and helped us sell it when we relocated 2 years later.

Anglophilia, I like the idea of the galvanized pipe rods for clothes. We need that extra storage space!