Attic, roof white mold? Wet nails?

4 years ago

Hi,
We live in northern New England where the summers are pretty hot and winters are cold. We have a hip-style, 2 story house. Shingled roof. The peak has a ridge vent. We have two bathroom vents that vent out through the roof.

I went up into the attic to check something and I noticed that on the north and east side of the roof plywood is white fuzzy looking mold. Most of the nails are dripping water. Not all of the bays have this white stuff, some do, some it's in one area, some it's 3/4 of the bay up to the ridge and some don't have it at all.

I have 2 - 3 layers of insulation up there, rolls, not blow in. All of the lights, fans, etc, are sealed by either a foam boxed around them or caulked, the attic entry as a foiled faced insulated tent around it. The attic is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Each bay has the styrafoam baffles that go down to the perforated soffit and about about 1/2 about the bays~. If I look down the baffles, I can see light. Under the baffles, installation is crammed up against them. I did remove some that looked too tight.

Some people are saying to block the soffit completely but I had always thought that is not a good idea.

Any advice on what I should do? I am very concerned with this.

I'm not sure that I've noticed this stuff before. The house is about 14 years old.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

Izzy Mn
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
In Minnesota blocked soffit vents and inadequate roof venting and poor insulation are the major cause of ice dams. My mom had been having issues with ice dams in a few places the last five years in areas she never had problem before, so something had changed. She had a insulation company come out to correct. Several of the soffit vents were blocked because of carelessness of the last insulation company.

Maybe you have moisture causing some condensation on nails and roof decking=not enough ventilation. Ridge vent may not be enough or ridge vent is blocked. You can get a energy audit through your energy company to see if you have leaking into roof area, that may cause some moisture. I've heard the -- can catch leaks really well when done in cooler weather.

My mom used a roof insulation company that was listed on the power companies list of approved contractors which she had to use to qualify for rebate. Service was great and they fixed problems. Cleared soffit vents, added a additional vent on roof (she had three, now has four), added more insulation and fixed leaks in vent pipes that came through ceiling up to roof. Also insulated vent pipes that were not insulated.

Also, going through a approved contractors they got a rebate from the State ( she received check the state of about $500) about a month after the work was done). I think she was billed about $1,300-1,500 by the company for the work but got $500 rebate
James Ladenson
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
The ridge vent is probably 4 - 5 feet in length due to the hip style roof. The ridge vent looks OK to me but I'm not a pro- you can see that an opening was made and covered with that vent.I can't find evidence of a leaky roof- I suppose that it would be easy to find? One of the bathroom vent pipes is 6" stove pipe, I just insulated it as it was sweating. The other vent is that junky bendy kind that you'd see if a dryer vent, I wanted stove pipe, but I can't set it to reach to vent due to angles.

So you're saying that blocked soffits is a bad thing? This person was pretty adamant that blocking them is a good thing and had worked for his problem that he had years ago (same problem as me)

We haven't had too much snow on the roof either yet this year.
Related Discussions
Brand new roof leaking, Mold growing in attic... HELP!
Q
Comments (26)
"It does sound like the moisture from the drywall mud floated up there and condensed on some cold roof sheathing. There is a huge amount of water in that stuff." If this is the moisture source (and leaks are not normally over a large area) then the problem will be 'fixed' as soon as you close everything up and the nmud finishes drying. Pre-mixed mud hardens by simply drying out (and shrinking as the water evaporates). Setting compound (mixed from powder) hardens by chemical reaction, and then the much smaller amount of water used to mix it up evaporates. If mixed with minimum water there is very little shrinkage (even in thick applications over an inch in thickness).
...See More
attic wet & moldy
Q
Comments (2)
I'll bet you have insulation in the floor of the attic but not in the ceiling part..... The moisture from your house is getting into the attic....and the cold is causing it to condense and drip. I remember well one night lying in bed wondering what that noise was in the attic.....it was the melted frost from the condensation dripping.... We insulated the roof part and solved the problem. Linda C
...See More
Leaking nail hole in roof
Q
Comments (1)
You need to patch it on the roof , not under the roof. Simplest way is to get a tube of roofing cement, lift up the roof tab, put cement over the hole and press the tab back into place. This is harder to do when it's cold. The roof tab is brittle. If you can't raise it up to get the cement where it's needed, you can slide up a piece of aluminum to cover the hole. you can get this an the Borgs(roofing aisle) or the local hardware store. Just cut it so it doesn't stick out from under the roof. you can put a little roof cement on it to keep it in place. Ron
...See More
Mold in attic on plywood?
Q
Comments (18)
Zooming in, the shiny dark black is just the outer plastic from the duct wrap bundled up against the opening, not a roof sealant. It has a torn shard that is hanging down and has a reflection from the light. And when cutting, they may have dropped a piece (the 6x6) onto the attic area, or purposely put one at the bottom of the 90degree turn because they had prior condensation problems (hence the addition of duct wrap). The other blackness where you can still make out the strands of the plywood through it, yes that is mold and growth. Water doesn't change the color of something for no reason - it wets it, then the particles in the air stick to the wet material, when those particles remain in certain micro-climates (and usually with no sun), mold and growth occurs. You can see the white hair starting to grow on top of the black surface in a couple spots. This is not any cause for alarm. The amount of spores locally at this penetration will not affect your livability down below the ceiling. This area at the roof will not transfer to your walls or bathroom ceiling below. Once the root cause of the water/moisture is fixed (if it is still active), then spray it to stop the growth. Sometimes, you can even skim off a couple of the strands of the plywood if it bothers you to see it. At the bathroom ceiling where the exhaust fan is, a common problem is condensation on the duct dripping back the slope of the duct and dropping right at the connection to the fan coupler. So you would see water evidence on the backside paper of the ceiling drywall, or mold has grown on the finished ceiling side of your bath right around the fan perimeter. You can take off the exhaust fan cover from the bath side to inspect. If none is noticeable now, and you find some water evidence there, that is also not a cause for alarm. Simply stop any mold growth that may be there, and fix the moisture problem (a couple generic solutions are ironically by adding duct insulation, or by running the fan longer after showers are done). Just a FYI - a crawlspace is an unoccupied area under a floor. An attic is an unoccupied area under a roof.
...See More
User
4 years ago
I live in CA, I want my soffits open because that is how my attic breathes.

You have sweating in your attic. Your home maybe be leaking more heat than your attic can handle. Your bathroom vent pipes maybe leaking heat. Are those vents for exhaust fans?

Are the “some people” licensed and insured ?

Are you willing to get some temp/humidity monitors. Maybe $50, 3-4 stations.
Izzy Mn
4 years ago
There is a lot of information online about roof ventilation. This is a really good video about that.

https://youtu.be/PfI7POlGM4M
cat_ky
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
No, you do not block soffit vents. Your problem is that you dont have enough venting in your attic. I agree with Izzy, get an energy audit through the power company. They are free, and they are very good at what they do. They will explain it all to you. One more thing. You said above that you have a hip roof?? Well, I also have a hip roof, and was told by a couple different roofers, to never have a ridge vent on a hip roof. Use soffit vents and roof vents on hip roofs. Make sure your vent pipes from your stove hood, and your bathrooms etc, are all sealed with good duct paint. Also, never use that twisty type dryer venting you are mentioning above. That stuff is a fire waiting to happen. Use only regular piping. On my roof are several vents along the back side of the house and there are three turbine style up there too, plus the soffit venting.

Attic, roof white mold? Wet nails?

Comments (5)

Izzy Mn

James Ladenson
Original Author

Related Discussions

User

Izzy Mn

cat_ky

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Attic, roof white mold? Wet nails?

Comments (5)

Izzy Mn

James LadensonOriginal Author

Related Discussions

User

Izzy Mn

cat_ky

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

James Ladenson
Original Author