Many people like having access to their attic via an attic ladder. You don’t need an attic ladder unit to gain access though. In fact plenty of people will cut an access hole through the ceiling and just use a regular ladder to get up there. If you decide to go that route, know a couple of things. Cutting a hole in your ceiling will breach the fire rating of your ceiling. Many people still choose to do this for the added storage space.
If you choose to cut an opening, you will install trim molding around the perimeter of the opening. The purpose of the trim is two-fold. First, the trim provides an attractive finish to the cut. Second, the trim acts as a ledge for the drywall ceiling piece to rest upon when you don’t need access into the attic.
Use trim molding that is wide enough not only to cover the rough cut, but also to extend far enough into the opening to that the drywall has plenty of room to sit and not fall out.
People typically cut along the width of the ceiling joists and then form a box by installing two 2”x4”s to make the box. In this way, you have something to nail into to hold the trim in place. Make sure that when you install the trim, you hit the ceiling joists with the nails, otherwise the weight of the drywall will push the trim out and the trim and drywall cut-out will fall to the floor.