Building a model house - small changes, unintended side effects

Now I have to ask. Your retractable attic ladder is parallel to the ridge direction. But doesn't the ladder correlate with the beams (from eaves side to eaves side) of the roof structure? Or is the crossbeam missing accordingly?

My retractable attic ladder is parallel to the normal stairs, or rather installed between the crossbeams.

Your retractable attic ladder is parallel to the ridge direction. But doesn't the ladder correlate with the beams (from eaves side to eaves side) of the roof truss? Or is the crossbeam missing accordingly?

A retractable attic ladder ideally has its exit in or near the ridge line. If its axis is parallel to this, then it naturally lies perpendicular to the direction of the rafters (which in turn are regularly parallel to that of the ceiling joists). However, I find "correlation" too strong a word here, as there is no connection. In a beam ceiling between the attic and the upper attic, such a crosswise arrangement results in the necessity for replacements, which you have correctly identified. The way it is resolved here is considered predominantly favorable. Even where the ceiling between the attic and the upper attic is a concrete ceiling, it is usually handled in the same way.

My pull-down attic ladder is parallel to the normal staircase, i.e., installed between the crossbeams.

The "normal staircase" between the ground floor and attic is, at least in a wooden beam ceiling, favorably located on an axis parallel to the ceiling joists/rafters/gables. However, it is also longer and wider. Therefore, if it is oriented crosswise, it would usually require four replacements due to its length (the attic ladder no more than two). This is also avoided because it already requires a replacement due to its width.

Regarding the specific case - once learned, a picture is worth a thousand words. For clarification: the beams and insulation, the roughly installed cross battens and tongue-and-groove panels are provided by the builder.

I don't know if the opening for the floor insert staircase is freely "movable". The two discussed positions (ours and the one from the original plan) must definitely be possible - I don't even know if the roof structure is affected when the floor plan is mirrored. And rotating the installation direction of the staircase is not a problem at all.

Ok, it seems your crossbeams of the roof truss are at different distances when looking from the bottom edge of the picture upwards towards the staircase.

No, they are basically at the same distance, unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the whole thing and none from before the installation of the [Rauspunds]. They basically build a "frame" around it – if you google "Stichbalken Wechselbalken" the first image in the image search (at least for me) is a still from a YouTube video, which shows it quite clearly.

a picture is worth a thousand words.

In my assessment, we see: ceiling beams perpendicular to the hatch with the laid-in insulation fleece, and then parallel to the hatch (thus crossing the top edges of the beams) a double battens as the substructure for the floorboards.

Ok, it seems your cross beams of the roof frame have different spacing when looking from the bottom edge of the picture upwards towards the stairs.

I don’t know why you associate the ceiling beams with the rafters – the ceiling here is not part of the roof structure (the one between the attic and the loft certainly isn’t, nor the one between the ground floor and attic except in truss-built suburban houses up to about sixty years ago).