Blocked off roof access hatch

I’m looking at a townhouse that has recently been remodeled. When doing my walk through, I could not find a roof access hatch on the 2nd floor. Apparently, the contractor sheetrocked over it. Seller doesn’t seem inclined to have a contractor go on the roof reopen the roof access hatch. In NYC, is it required that townhouses have a roof access hatch? How can home inspector adequately asses the crawl space and insulation? If there is a future roof leak, does having a roof access hatch serve a purpose other than getting onto the roof more easily? How can I kindly request that the Seller reopen the hatch if you think it is a necessity? Thanks!

Guest User | 6 years and 10 months ago

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randolph | 6 years and 10 months ago

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> @namahs
> it sounds like your home inspector/engineer did not do a great job

he did a terrible job, but short of tearing down walls there was no way to know.

dorkofwindsor | 6 years and 10 months ago

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“I could not find a roof access hatch on the 2nd floor. Apparently, the contractor sheetrocked over it”
As has been said, big red flag on corner cutting. Just imagine what the shower construction looks like – any waterproofing membrane under the tile? You’ll never know…. nor would you make an optimistic assumption with someone who just sheet rocked over a hatch…. i personally would let someone else have this house. (note: i bought from a flipper)

namahs | 6 years and 10 months ago

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@Randolph I don’t want to come out negative but it sounds like your home inspector/engineer did not do a great job. For us, we were lucky have a family friend that gave us a good inspection report. Depending on the inspector or engineer, sometimes the report on the issue can be blown out of proportion. One thing to note is the inspector only has 1-2hrs with looking thru the house, there are only so much he can see or be allowed to see. It is very difficult to capture everything. For our current home, we actually hired another engineer to confirm the findings that were bothering us, structural issues. We didn’t think the extra $500 is wasted since this is one of the largest investments.

RobertGMarvin

in Roofing 6 years and 10 months ago

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IMO with old houses where you know a lot of work must be done inspectors are STILL needed to see if there are any structural issues that make the house unusable.

randolph | 6 years and 10 months ago

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our home inspector said a handful of things were issues, and they were not. he also said a whole shitload of things were A OK, and they ended up being a major PITA and $$$$$$. i would honestly just forgo the home inspection if you know the house needs a lot of work, all that will come of it is a false sense of security at best.

slopefarm | 6 years and 10 months ago

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“No home inspector opens or looks inside walls” Agreed. that’s why one should consider walking if the flipper has put up a bunch of unnecessary and non-code compliant sheetrocking covering places the inspector normally ought to be able to see.

mozeeatupu | 6 years and 10 months ago

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No home inspector opens or looks inside walls.

RobertGMarvin

in Roofing 6 years and 10 months ago

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“but then that would eliminate any flipper renovated house from anyone’s prospects! ”

True DIBS, but would that be a bad thing?

slopefarm | 6 years and 10 months ago

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I do think a flipper-renovated house at baseline deserves some serious scrutiny, particularly if all or much of the job was done without a filing or permit. No reason not to buy, so long as you do some diligence. But I think once you start seeing red flags on a flipper reno, the best move is to walk away. I would not view the roof hatch concealment here as a one-off accident, but as part of the flipper’s MO. You don’t want to pay the premium that comes with a renovated home and then find yourself redoing lots of things.

daveinbedstuy | 6 years and 10 months ago

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True Bob but then that would eliminate any flipper renovated house from anyone’s prospects! But yes, when there are signs that things have been done wrong, it’s a big red flag

RobertGMarvin

in Roofing 6 years and 10 months ago

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I fear that an inspector, good, or otherwise, will be unable to find problems hidden inside walls, especially if they’re intentionally hidden.

daveinbedstuy | 6 years and 10 months ago

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What are we talking about here? Possibly uninsulated rafters. $2,000 – 3,000 job to do that from the roof. And another $1,000 – 2,000 to add a hatch access. But sure, there could be other “hidden issues” throughout the house. That’s what a good inspector will point out.

Guest User | 6 years and 10 months ago

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If you really love the house and cannot bear to walk away, perhaps you can offer a lower price that takes into account the maximum amount of repairs that might need to be done in order to fix any concealed roof issues. That is, if this is the only area of the house that cannot be visually inspected…

slopefarm | 6 years and 10 months ago

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The broker is never a reliable source on these kinds of questions.

Yes, walk away. This is sketchy enough that I would start questioning what other sketchy things they did in working on the house. .

murph | 6 years and 10 months ago

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Walk away. Yes, FDNY & your mortgage banker & your home insurance inspector like to see a hatchway accessible from the top floor and the roof surface. The cock loft should have a foot or foot-and-a-half of loose fill insulation with free flow of air above to vent out the roof. You can’t check on anything, can you? Again, walk away.

resident2 | 6 years and 10 months ago

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The walls around the roof access should be covered with sheet rock so that fire cannot so easily spread in through the roof & cock loft area. But the roof hatch is supposed to accessible as a fire escape as well as maintenance access.
And yes it is common to take out the cock loft area and raise the ceilings on the top floor which are otherwise often low. But this has nothing to do with closing off the roof access hatch.

daveinbedstuy | 6 years and 10 months ago

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Sounds like agent for the Seller speak.

Guest User | 6 years and 10 months ago

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Thanks for all the helpful comments, SF. The agent for the Seller, who has been representing several new townhouse renovation jobs, said that all of these ‘new townhouses’ cover up the cockloft space. Contractors generally raise the top floor ceiling height to the rafters, and put in new insulation. Most will leave the roof hatch available to access with a ladder, but they all sheetrock around it so you can’t look through the cockloft space. Does this sound right to you? I thought the space between the roof and the 2nd floor ceiling needs some airflow, unless brick homes and brownstones have something already built in.

slopefarm | 6 years and 10 months ago

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Since you are on BIS, just click on the links for the various jobs and you should be taken to pages that list permits, if any, plans, violations, etc. Play around with the BIS page for the property and follow the links and see what you learn.

But you may be overthinking this. From what you’ve already posted, I do not trust this situation. Would you be buying this house on the basis that it is recently renovated? You’d be paying a premium for a pig in a poke. My gut tells me they are hiding something.

If you are still interested in going to contract on this, I would be direct. Have your lawyer tell seller’s lawyer something like “my client thinks your client is hiding something and doesn’t have a good feeling about this. He needs to see the roof hatch and the area around it and does not understand why it was covered over.” If the response is no, that tells you all you need to know.