To access the scuttle door, the Madisons probably used a simple ladder stair.  These stairs were very common in the 18th and early-19th centuries and many examples survive.  So why wasn't a ladder also reconstructed during the Restoration?  As it turns out clear evidence for a set of shelves was found directly under the scuttle that blocked the path taken by the ca. 1764 ladder.  But how would the Madisons have accessed the garret if the scuttle did not have a ladder?  The answer is that the shelves under the scuttle were added only after a new garrett access hatch was built in ca. 1797 by President Madison when he finished his addition to his father’s house.