I purchased a house a couple months ago. The stair case to the second floor split in two. One wing goes to a guest room that was built as an extension above the attached garage. The other original wing leads to the original bedrooms. The home inspector said in his report that there was “no attic access” in the guest room extension.
Now that guest room is a lot colder/warmer than the original bedrooms in the other wing. The A/C workers said that the A/C was working perfectly in the guest room but that NO insulation was added to that section of the attic when the extension was built.
The A/C workers were actually able to get there by going through the attic access that is in the original wing and walk through the attic all the way to the part of the attic above the guest room extension.
Now my home inspector says that it wasn’t his responsibility to check that part of the attic because there was “no attic access” in that section. But I am arguing that there was an attic access because you can get there by going through the original attic access and walking through the attic.
So my question is: should he be held responsible for having checked that part of the attic or not?
The Inspector is not to enter any attic that is a hazard to his safety or that may cause property damage. Walking on joists , as the workers may have done, poses a safety hazard. If there was an accessible walkway made of secured plywood from the other opening directly through to the other attic, then that is a different story. Was there a safe walkway provided?
What did the inspector say, about accessibility, when you told him that the AC guy “walked” over to that “no access” attic from the attic access in the original wing?
Whether it was safe to walk the ceiling joists is a judgement call (which is almost impossible to make without being there or seeing many proper pictures) and it may be less stress, in the long run, to just put some insulation in there.
Thanks for your help. I told the Home Inspector that he would have been able to inspect that section of the attic by entering the original attic access and walking towards the extension site. He said that he was only responsible for looking around in the attic and not actually walking through the attic. He said that “by code” (his words) there should have been an attic access in the guest room extension for him to check that section of the attic.
I am not sure what to think. I just had another insulation guy go there this am and he had no pb going there. He took pics and there is indeed no insulation whatsoever.
Let me ask you this question back…are you saying you would not have purchased the house if you had known that the attic space in question had no insulation?..Now be honest with yourself…
Take ownership of your house…get it insulated and move on. The inspector used their judgement and reported as such and did not inspect that area…which means if you have a concern about that are you hire a specialist to look at it…like the AC guy or a home insulation specialist as you have and get it insulated…
I wont get into “hearsay” of what is posted that the inspector said unless I heard it from his/her mouth so my advice (take it as you will) just insulate it and move on.
It’s not “our opinion”…
It is his call.
It is also his responsibility to report “Why” it was not inspected. (Not just that there was not an access hatch.
You did not own the property during the home inspection, now you do…
You can give permission to HVAC to potentially damage stuff in their inspection. You could not at the time of the home inspection. You didn’t own it yet.
No one here knows what kind of access there was. Its a judgement call by the inspector. Sometimes you need to consider risk vs benefit. The AC guy may have been willing to take more risk since he was there to solve a specific problem, and you actually own the home now.