Moisture in attic

[holmer]

Hi All,

Situation:

Bathroom vent terminates in a poorly ventilated attic in a small one story home. The home owners complain of heavy condensation on all windows and on the chimney that is exposed all the way down. One bedroom has persistent mildew spots on the interior walls. None of these spots appear anywhere else in the home. I am certain that the condensation is a result of high relative humidity indoors.

Question:

Why does the mildew just appear in this one room? It is the only room painted ALL black, could it be something in the paint?

Download Attachment: attic.jpg

45.26 KB

Download Attachment: spots.jpg

35.32 KB

Thanks,

[hausdok]

Hi,

Is it the room where adults sleep? Adults pump a lot of moisture into the air at night. If the rooms of that wall are poorly insulated, you'd be getting condensation on them wherever nailheads cool the surface or there are air leaks. That condensation will feed the mildew.

Get that attic vented to the exterior, get a good ground cover on the soil beneath the home if there is a crawlspace and ventilate the home better.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[holmer]

Thanks for your input Mike

Only the daughter sleeps in that room, but they did mention that the door is nearly always closed. The mildew spots are random, i.e. not on nail heads. The parents' room is right next to that room and the walls show no growth (high moisture with heavy condensation on the windows though). There were dozens of candles in the daughter's room and she seemed like the type to sit in there and burn them in her black room with gothic jewelry hanging all over the place. She did complain of headaches once the *mold* appeared (of course) but maybe she is just asphyxiating herself.

I did explain to them the importance of getting the bathroom fan vented outdoors and improving the attic ventilation. I did not mention any of my thoughts about the young lady though!

Thanks again,

[carle3]

Hi Eric,

Just some otherthings I have run into for these problems.

1. Window treatments - blinds, curtains, shades

this restricts the warm are from getting to the window pain making the surface colder and thus more apt to have condensation.

2. Heat Register

Either not loacted under window or being blocked by furniture or restriced by damper.

3. Window direction

Window may have northerly facing making the glass a bit cooler the the other

Houses are very dynamic and these problems rarely are a simple one hit solution although I have seen something as simple as a teddy bear against an exterior wall insulate the heat away from the wall which led to mold growth on the wall behind the bear.

Carl

West Bend, WI

[paul burrell]

Originally posted by holmer

There were dozens of candles in the daughter's room and she seemed like the type to sit in there and burn them in her black room with gothic jewelry hanging all over the place. She did complain of headaches once the *mold* appeared (of course) but maybe she is just asphyxiating herself.

I did explain to them the importance of getting the bathroom fan vented outdoors and improving the attic ventilation. I did not mention any of my thoughts about the young lady though!

Thanks again,

I think I would have spoke to her parents about the candles as relates to carbon monoxide and headaches.

I appraised a home about 15 years past and the family room was next to the water heater closet. The vent flue bonnet was half off center. Carbon monoxide was entering the family room. I asked the home owner if She had been experiencing headaches or drowsiness. She said yes. I showed her the vent and explained the problem. She seemed grateful and about three weeks later I received a nice letter of gratitude from her in the mail.

End of story,

Paul Burrell

[Rob Amaral]

Contact Stephen King...he'll figure out the black-room/Gothic-kid/mold spots issues. He can drive over...

[holmer]

Paul,

I take your point. I made that comment tongue in cheek but I think you have a valid point there. Maybe she IS lighting all those candles at once. I guess I am naive about those things, it just seems so preposterous.

Thanks,