My Grandmother’s Attic

When’s the last time you went into your attic? I did not give my attic much thought until I started a new job. Now I am amazed to discover how rare people go in their attics. I have talked with homeowners who have not been in their attic for 20+ years.  One new homeowner said that she purchased a home 8 months ago and has actually never been in her attic.

Here’s my attic story:

When I was a little girl, I remember seeing magic attic stairs pop down from the ceiling in one of my grandmother’s bedrooms in her tiny rancher. Kids who see stairs always wonder what’s on the other end. I was so small and the stairs so large that I never went beyond just looking up.

As I got older and saw those stairs descend each Christmas to bring down decorations, I would beg my mother to allow me to go up. It was always a firm “no,” and I lived with it.

After my grandmother passed away, I was at the house with my mother and my aunt. We were packing up boxes and reminiscing. I walked into the spare bedroom, where I saw the stairs to the attic had been pulled down. I was 32, and I had my own attic with pull-down stairs by that time. But the lure remained. I HAD to see what was up there. My aunt heard me step up the first three rungs and yelled out, “Don’t go up there! It’s full of asbestos!” As I am apt to do, I said okay and went up anyway, but stealthily and quickly. It was gross. “Stuff” hung from the rafters, my eyes burned, I couldn’t breathe, and it felt like I was inhaling particles.

A dirty attic with poor insulation, similar to what was in my grandmother’s home.

But I did see my Fisher-Price castle with the working castle gate. I ran and snatched it like a thief in the night. The Lincoln Logs were covered in the debris that was hanging everywhere. On the floor, I saw what polite people would not refer to as “rodent turds,” but it most assuredly was. I ran to the kitchen with my castle and washed it off while my aunt looked at me unfavorably and told me that I should not be handling something covered with asbestos. Plus, I hadn’t listened to her and went up in the first place. She was right, of course.

It ended up that my aunt had specialists come out in hazmat suits and respirators to remove the toxic material in my grandmother’s attic and had it replaced with safe insulation. The lesson that I learned is that if you don’t know what’s in your attic, it can hurt you. I also learned that if you are pigheaded enough to ignore the pleas of your aunt and mother to stay out of an attic, you can score a childhood toy, but at what cost?

I’ll end this by saying: Know what’s in your attic. If you don’t know or don’t want to know, hire a professional to do this for you. Attics and More will provide a free complimentary home energy analysis, which includes inspection of your attic and crawlspace.

As for my Fisher-Price castle? It’s now safely inside my attic. I feel content, and some redemption, knowing it’s there.