Onondaga County
Roof Leak Diagnosis Across the Town of Pompey
In Pompey the attic above the stain is almost always yours to look at, and looking is the cheapest diagnostic there is. 97.1 percent of occupied homes here are owner occupied and 94.1 percent are single-family detached, both the highest figures anywhere on this site, so the person who spots the ceiling mark is usually the person who can open the hatch and settle half the question before anyone arrives.
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What you can settle in your own Pompey attic
Where an attic has a reasonable height over a reasonable area, New York expects there to be a way into it: section R807.1 requires an access opening where an attic with combustible ceiling or roof construction is 30 inches or more high over an area of at least 30 square feet, rough framed at not less than 22 by 30 inches, in a hallway or another readily accessible place. If there is no hatch, nobody has ever looked at the underside of your deck, and cutting a code-sized opening is minor work that turns every future roof question from guesswork into looking. It helps that an ordinary vented attic insulated at the floor is the easy case: federal guidance notes that exposed ventilated rafters and decking dry out more readily and that the underside of the deck is relatively easy to see, unlike a deck encased in spray foam or sandwiched into a cathedral ceiling, where the work has to proceed from the outside in and costs accordingly. Pompey is the place on this site where that matters most, because the housing is 94.1 percent single-family detached with only 0.3 percent in two-unit buildings and 97.1 percent owner occupancy, against 41.4 percent detached and 41.6 percent owner occupied in the city. Its 2,901 units also split oddly: 23.5 percent built before 1940 and 49.8 percent since 1980, with very little in between. Those two halves behave differently through a winter, and we tell you which one you are in before we tell you what anything costs.
Been up there and still not sure?
Send the Pompey address and what you found. We will arrange a visit that works from your evidence rather than starting over.
Roof and attic work we arrange across Pompey
Roof and Attic Leak Diagnosis
Find out where the water is actually getting in before anyone prices a covering, including whether it came through the roof at all.
Leak Diagnosis in Pompey →Flat and Low-Slope Roofing
Find out whether a nearly flat porch, addition or garage roof leaks because it has the wrong covering on it, and what may lawfully go up there instead.
Low-Slope Roofing in Pompey →Flashing, Chimney and Skylight Repair
Rebuild the joint the water is actually using, at a chimney, wall, valley, vent or skylight, without re-covering a roof that is still doing its job.
Flashing Repair in Pompey →Gutters, Downspouts and Roof Drainage
Get the water that leaves the roof away from the house properly, instead of over the gutter, behind the fascia or straight down the foundation wall.
Gutters and Drainage in Pompey →Attic Ventilation and Air Sealing
Stop indoor air reaching the cold roof deck, and get the vent area and the vent split right, so the attic stops making its own water.
Attic Ventilation in Pompey →Why 97.1 percent owner occupancy changes the first step
The Town of Pompey has 2,901 housing units of which 94.1 percent are single-family detached, the highest share of any town on this site, with 1.9 percent mobile homes, only 0.3 percent in two-unit buildings and owner occupancy of 97.1 percent, also the highest. 23.5 percent of the housing was built in 1939 or earlier and 49.8 percent in 1980 or later, with almost nothing in between.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25034 year structure built, B25035 median year structure built, B25024 units in structure and B25003 tenure, accessed 2026-09-14
In the Town of Pompey the median year of construction is 1980. Of 2,901 housing units, 23.5 percent were built in 1939 or earlier, 25.7 percent before 1950, 50.2 percent before 1980 and 49.8 percent in 1980 or later. 94.1 percent are single-family detached and 97.1 percent of occupied units are owner occupied.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25034 year structure built, B25035 median year structure built, B25024 units in structure and B25003 tenure, accessed 2026-09-14
Section R807.1 of the 2025 Residential Code of New York State requires an attic access opening where an attic with combustible ceiling or roof construction has a vertical height of 30 inches or more over an area of not less than 30 square feet, with a rough-framed opening of not less than 22 inches by 30 inches in a hallway or other readily accessible location.
Source: 2025 Residential Code of New York State, via UpCodes, accessed 2026-09-14
The Department of Energy guide observes that a vented attic insulated at the attic floor makes it easier to find and solve roof leaks and other moisture problems, because the exposed and ventilated rafters and decking can dry out more readily and the underside of the deck is relatively easy to look at, compared with an assembly where the deck is encased in spray foam or sandwiched in a cathedral ceiling.
Source: US Department of Energy, Building America Solution Center, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, accessed 2026-09-14
Only 63.7 percent of housing units in Onondaga County are single-family detached houses, and the range across the county is very wide: 94.1 percent in the Town of Pompey, 84.2 percent in the Town of Onondaga and 80.8 percent in the Town of Cicero, against 48.1 percent in Solvay village, 41.5 percent in East Syracuse village and 41.4 percent in the City of Syracuse. Owner occupancy runs from 97.1 percent in Pompey to 41.6 percent in the city.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25034 year structure built, B25035 median year structure built, B25024 units in structure and B25003 tenure, accessed 2026-09-14
Tell us what you saw in your Pompey attic
Frost, damp boards, wet insulation, or a hatch that does not exist. Any of those is a useful starting point, and there is no obligation in asking.