Thread: Hideaway Stairs??

In the novel I am working on, I am thinking of a character hiding in an attic that has those hideaway stairs that you have to pull down. I don't have those stairs in my home, and I was wondering if anyone knows if it was possible for someone to pull the stairs up after them once they are inside, and then open them again from inside. I know that in National Lampoon's Christmas vacation Chevy Chase's character was trapped in such an attic and couldn't get out until someone opened the stairs from below, but is it even possible to open them from the inside?

Yes. I used to have those stairs when I was a teenager. I could climb up the stairs, reach down and fold them up from the middle, and then pull the trapdoor closed. To open it back up from inside I would have to put all my weight on the end and catch my self on the edges of the doorway with my hands. The whole process was noisy, but letting down the latter from above was the worst. Not something that could be done without alerting the whole house.

Thank you, Verum. Giving what you said about it being possible, but so difficult and noisy, I think I will scrap the whole hideaway stairs idea and go with regular stairs.