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 Post subject: Wet roof plywood
PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:33 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:24 pm
Posts: 87
Hi
Trying to figure out what to do about this. The bathroom vent was dripping brown water and I found it was coming from the attic and the plywood is pretty soaked in a corner of the attic. It was dripping down. I looked at the roof from outside and i can’t see much, not even really any snow but suppose the draining could be blocked not sure since it’s winter it’s kinda scary to go up there.
Any advice?


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 Post subject: Re: Wet roof plywood
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:11 am 
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Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:14 am
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Location: Milton
Fairly new home ? Old home ?? Old roof ? So many missing details. Is the roof sheathing wet everywhere ? in one place ?

It could be 1)

A leak from the roof dripping out where the fan is installed. Roof leaks also travel to the most vulnerable points. In this case, where there is a hole in the drywall for the fan.

Or 2)

Your bathroom fan exhaust duct in the attic may be leaking some warm exhaust air into the cold attic instead of being vented outside. This is a common problem with SOME builders. In the winter, when it is cold in the attic, it leads to attic mold, rot, and loads of moisture in the attic. Some of this moisture may be leaking down the duct and out the fan.

Most of the time the problem is because the connection between the vent on the roof, the roof sheathing, and the exhaust duct is poorly done.

Or 3)

It may be that your fans exhaust ducts in the attic are not properly insulated. When the attic is cold, moisture in the exhaust air condenses and then drips out of the fan.

Or 4)

Negligent roofers who work for large builders sometimes run out of exhaust vents while on the roof. Soooooo,,,,,, to them the solution is to simply cover the vents hole with shingles and forget about it.


Or,,,,, it could be another thing or two but it's likely one of the first 3 or a combination of them.

Many attics in Milton and Oakville new construction homes are full of moisture during the winter because of poor exhaust duct connections between the vents and the roof sheathing. This issue goes on many warranty inspection reports.

*BELOW - Noted the other day during a one year warranty inspection of a Mattamy built home. Attic roof sheathing is soaking wet. This excessive moisture will no doubt cause mold and rot.


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IMG_0613 (Small).JPG
IMG_0613 (Small).JPG [ 76.76 KiB | Viewed 1773 times ]

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 Post subject: Re: Wet roof plywood
PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 10:24 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:24 pm
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I can’t seem to post a pic
That’s what it looks like but it’s multiple sheafs surrounding a vent, fully wet. The home is only 7 yrs old.
It’s not leaking today but still damp
Do I have to call a roofer then? How do I prevent mould from developing while waiting for the fix?


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 Post subject: Re: Wet roof plywood
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:53 am 
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Location: Milton
fran wrote:
I can’t seem to post a pic
That’s what it looks like but it’s multiple sheafs surrounding a vent, fully wet. The home is only 7 yrs old.
It’s not leaking today but still damp
Do I have to call a roofer then? How do I prevent mould from developing while waiting for the fix?


A roofer can fix roofs but they are not likely interested in working in your attic.

IMO warm air from the home is leaking from somewhere into the cold attic where it then condenses / turns into water.

For now stop using the bathroom fans. It would help if the furnace fan was in the ON position so that air in the home is circulated. This is to help push the moist air out of your bathroom.

You are not alone. Lots of Miltons and Oakvilles new homes have attics full of moisture in the winter. This is a pitiful situation and a reflection of poor quality work by some builders. Best thing is to use the bathroom fans as little as possible.

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 Post subject: Re: Wet roof plywood
PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:44 am 
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Location: Milton
When considering the builders cost of new construction homes and the price new homes are sold for - you would think that these adaptors ( see photo ) would be standard in every home. These adaptors after all, facilitate a perfect connection between the exhaust duct and the roof vent so that attics do not fill with moisture during cold weather and they also meet code requirements that require exhaust air vent to the exterior of the home.


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Exhaust duct adapter (Small).JPG
Exhaust duct adapter (Small).JPG [ 83.15 KiB | Viewed 1697 times ]

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Last edited by Halton Home Inspector on Thu Jan 31, 2019 8:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Wet roof plywood
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:52 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:24 pm
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If this is a common problem, what can people do about this before their roof rots away. I don’t even use my bathroom fan and I always have my furnace fan on.


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 Post subject: Re: Wet roof plywood
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 1:37 pm 
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Location: Milton
fran wrote:
If this is a common problem, what can people do about this before their roof rots away. I don’t even use my bathroom fan and I always have my furnace fan on.


Well, not using your exhaust fan, especially in the during cold weather is the perfect solution and leaving the furnace fan on the ON setting to keep air moving in the home also helps.

To see if you have excess moisture in the attic during the winter - a person would need to use the exhaust fan(s) as normal and then look into the attic from the hatch with a good flashlight. Try to identify the exhaust ducts and see if there is excess moisture, soaking wet roof sheathing, etc. If conditions are bad then the whole attic may be wet with water dripping from the thousands of roof shingle nails that are exposed in the attic.

When called out as a warranty issue builders often slap copious quantities of vapour barrier tape around the leaky connection between the exhaust duct and the roof sheathing. Of course this is a slap-stick "repair".

During very cold weather I would consider a small amount of condensation to be normal. But - this is not the 70's and mold, rot, and excessive moisture in new homes at any time of year is IMO not an acceptable condition.

Here is another lovely image I took in an attic showing frost on the roof sheathing as a result of warm exhaust air leaking from the exhaust duct.


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Leaky attic duct.jpg
Leaky attic duct.jpg [ 74.59 KiB | Viewed 1556 times ]

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