Attic Space Moisture: What Causes It and How to Get Rid of It

Why Does My Attic Have Condensation?

• Attic condensation typically comes about for the duration of wintertime & spring months when warm, moist air from the key living area rises into the attic room. When that warm, moist air meets the chilly underside of your roof’s deck, condensation takes place. This can also be tremendously exacerbated if there are swings in the local weather going from heavy warm weather conditions rains to immediate cold weather conditions overnight. The by now quite humid airmass will choose time to dry out, not only outside your property but inside your attic
• In the winter, attic condensation often turns into frost, which does not pose any risk. On the other hand, when the frost melts, it turns back again into condensation, which would make everything it touches damp – ordinarily insulation and wood.
• In the course of winter season, your house must have about a 35% to 40% humidity level. If your humidity concentrations are higher, condensation can arise within the house and can be witnessed on home windows, partitions, and ceilings. And depending on the home, even 35% can be too a lot.
• Some widespread resources for attic moisture are showers, dishwashers, dryers, cooking, washing devices, baths, humidifiers, and other warmth-developing equipment. Households with a lot of persons living in the spot and even vegetation will include to this as well. In most instances, these resources do not make extreme moisture, on the other hand, if a residence is very airtight and/or if air flow is bad – it can certainly contribute enormously.

What Brings about Attic Condensation?

• Bad attic insulation and/or air flow
• Improperly vented toilet and dryer exhausts that are routed to the attic (instead of outside)
• Should really the relationship of a lavatory vent turn into detached from roof exhaust level. this would drastically add to the attic humidity

How Do I Know if I Have Attic Condensation?

There are a handful of signs you can appear for to determine if you have attic condensation:

1. Indicators h2o has (or is) trickling down the walls
2. Musky, moist odor
3. Mildew
4. Rust
5. Dim stains
6. Moist or wet insulation
7. Moist or moist wooden
8. Water marks on the ground
9. Humidity on glass windows

How to Get Rid of Attic Condensation

In order to prevent condensation (and frost) from acquiring in your attic you need to have to do 4 matters:

• Eliminate or lessen air leakage into the attic room
  • Dependent on which town you live in, Mass Conserve will Air Seal any penetrations you may possibly have in your ceiling this sort of as Can lights, Lavatory admirers, or any other penetrations into the attic area at just about small to no charge.
  • Attic Entry: this is the major and most frequent trouble we see when inspecting a roof when we search in the attic when the accessibility is not properly sealed and insulated
    • Pull Down Stairs: Will need to have an insulated box over the stairs to reduce moisture and heat escaping from the household into the attic. Mass Help save Can provide these or you can even obtain one at Lowes: Owens Corning Attic Stairway Insulator II 40-in Insulation Supports for approximately $58
    • Stroll Up Attic: A full sized entry door is put in but not the correct doorway! The doorway separating the top floor from the attic place need to be an insulated exterior doorway that is also tightly sealed to prevent heat and humidity from escaping the dwelling into the attic.
  • Boost attic insulation
    • Most properties do not have enough insulation enabling warmth to escape through the ceiling and into the attic place. Contacting Mass Help you save can considerably decrease if not eliminate this problem by including in added blown in insulation in excess of your present insulation at nearly minor to no price tag.
  • Make improvements to attic air flow
    • If you have vented soffit or drip edge, make certain any fiberglass or blown in insulation is not blocking the air intake as this could enormously lower the house’s capability to breathe
    • Make confident any visible ridge vents are appropriately slash in and not blocked
    • If Gable vents are employed rather than ridge vents are there sufficient exhaust for the residence to breathe?
  • Ensure bathroom & dryer vents are adequately routed outside the house
    • A lot of homes we have found vent their bathroom fans into the soffit or even a sidewall.
    • If you have vented soffit or drip edge, the Massachusetts Making Code evidently states that you can’t vent anything at all OUT of your attic place inside 3’ of air coming IN to your attic area as the home could pull that moist air back into the attic space.

Did the Installation of My New Roof Lead to This Issue?

• Every single roofer will get this dilemma in the Slide as things swiftly start out to get chilly and the response is practically generally NO
• If your household was already leaking humidity into your attic room, then the addition of a new roof would not modify this. Only if the amount of air flow into/out of your attic changed, could this exacerbate the issue.

I have In no way Found This Challenge In advance of!

• Only now, simply because you have had a new roof installed, are you more likely to verify your attic place for possible leaks and identify items that ended up currently current in the previous still not witnessed.
• Speedy modifications in temperature and humidity outdoors the dwelling can considerably improve the setting within the attic, creating this visible a person working day but not the following.
• These troubles in the Northeast are most typically seen soon after a fast cold front follows moist large rainstorms in which the outside air is by now quite humid and then turns chilly speedily