The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: saijoe on January 08, 2018, 10:16:16 AM
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I am in the Chicago area. We noticed a water stain on our bedroom yesterday morning. I looked up in the attic and there was frost and moisture all over. It has been really cold here the past couple of weeks and yesterday was warmer, though still below freezing. I went to the big box store, bought an attic fan and rigged it to blow out to pull in fresh air. This seemed to have helped.
In general, what causes this?
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Any bathroom fans that are venting directly into the attic? It looks rather localized.
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Could be an ice damn. That's where the warm air in the attic makes some snow, then it freezes lower on down, and traps liquid water on your shingles, which allows it to enter your home.
Do you have major icicles? That's a sign of poor attic ventilation too. Make sure your soffits are free from insulation and it allows air to enter.
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Yes, check for ice dams. Good news is it's going to warm up enough this week to melt anything on the roof, bad news is the evidence will melt away.
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Leak?
That looks like its at the peak of the roof, a very odd place for an ice dam. Honestly an odd place for it to leak and freeze either.
The ventilation looks decent from the picture.
I say leak for bathroom vent is disconnected.
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To me it looks like there moisture (and probably heat) escaping form the house and then freezing on the framing. If there anything below like a bathroom vent line, a junction box with big air gaps around it, the attic access hatch or something of the like?
More pictures or better lighting would be helpful; you say that it is everywhere, but I can only making it out on the framing. Unless what I am assuming is insulation in the bottom of the picture is something else . . .
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We had a similar problem after the last cold spell. We had multiple drips from our ceiling in two different rooms in a section of our home. It was not an ice dam. It was caused by condensation of moist air, freezing and then melting and dripping back down when it warmed up. This website explains it. http://www.drroof.ca/industry-topics/ice-dams/ (http://www.drroof.ca/industry-topics/ice-dams/)
We have lived here for 15 years and this is the first year we have experienced it. I think our furnace humidifier was set too high combined with the extreme cold snap that caused it.
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I'll see if lowering the humidity indoors....
Do you have something similar to this Humidity Monitor (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013BKDO8/ref=asc_df_B0013BKDO85336433/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B0013BKDO8&linkCode=df0&hvadid=216551439599&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=62621694203554781&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9017117&hvtargid=pla-350117545360)?
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Quick question... Since I insulated my attic this fall I'm interested in this. Where would condensation form in case there's any? Under roof deck? I have about 16-17" of cellulose and am trying to keep the attic under surveillance to make sure there are no condensation problems up there... With these temps should I look for ice formed under the roof deck?
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You have insufficient air flow to begin with. Check your Soffit vents, did any loose fill block them? How many ridge vents do you have (I think I see one)? Basically, add more passive air flow to the system. If the fan helped alleviate the problem, a long term fix is adding a permanent (passive) fan. If you ignore the vents, you'll probably have this problem again.
Good news, its pretty easy to add more venting if that's the issue. If I'm wrong, the extra venting doesn't hurt.