Clearing an attic you can barely stand up in

Every house has one: a hatch in a closet ceiling, a folding ladder that flexes under you, and a couple hundred pounds of boxes nobody has opened since the last move. Clearing an attic is a different job from clearing a basement, because the real limit isn't the stuff. It's the way in and out.

Check the way in before you check the stuff

Measure the hatch opening. A lot of attic openings are barely wider than a person's shoulders, and anything wider than the hatch doesn't come down the hatch. It comes apart up there or it stays. Check the ladder too. Folding attic ladders are often held by a handful of screws and rated for a person, not a person carrying a dresser drawer.

Then look at the floor. Some attics have boards down the middle and bare joists with insulation between the rest. That tells you where you can stand and where the load has to sit while you work.

Work outward from the hatch

The instinct is to start in the far corner, where the interesting stuff is. Don't. Whatever you clear has to pass the hatch eventually, so clear a working area around it first and push outward from there. That way you're never climbing over a pile with your hands full.

Have someone at the bottom of the ladder if you can. Not to carry, just to take things out of your hands so you can hold both rails on the way down.

Decide up there, not down here

The rule is that a box goes down once. Open it at the hatch, in the light, and make the call on the spot: keep, donate, sell, trash. If you carry it down to decide later, it lands in the hallway and you've moved the problem to a worse place.

Weight is the honest test. A box of paperbacks, old magazines, or tile is heavy and usually worthless. Lift one corner before you commit to carrying it down a ladder.

What does and doesn't fit through a hatch

• Anything wider than the opening comes apart first: bed frames, shelving units, small furniture.
• Long, light things like curtain rods and rolled rugs go down end-first, not sideways.
• Boxes of paper and books come down a few at a time, not stacked in your arms.
• Anything soft and musty gets bagged up there, not dragged through the house.

Heat, dust, and air

Attics run much hotter than the rest of the house, and the dust up there is old. Go up early in the morning, take water, and come down before you feel dizzy. A cheap dust mask earns its keep, and so do gloves. You'll find nails, wire ends, and broken glass.

Don't work up there alone if the ladder is steep or the hatch is tight. Tell someone you're going up, and keep your phone in a pocket, not in a box.

What doesn't go out with the regular trash

Old insulation, mouse nests and droppings, and anything damp go into heavy bags and out of the house the same day. Ask your transfer station or hauler how they want that material bagged before you carry it down, because the answer varies and you don't want to make the trip twice.

Fiberglass insulation itches for hours. Long sleeves, gloves, and a bag tied shut solve most of it.

What bites people is the ceiling, not the ladder. Step on the boards, or on boards you lay across the joists yourself, and never on the drywall between them. That drywall is the ceiling of the room below, and it holds a foot for about a second.