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Ken

wrote:
Hi,
My ceilings have mildew & paint peeling again! I thought I had taken
care of this nitemare, bleach/water solution, scraped & filled, used
kiltz in one room & zinseller(sp) in the other...these are bedrooms.
Then applied a good latex paint, month later installed crown moulding,
beautiful, right? 2 yrs later in one room & not even a yr in the other,
my problem is back! I also have a new 1 yr old roof & brand new
furnace...the problem takes place on the walls facing the outside, which
is also floor vent placement.
The siding is only 6 yrs old and was well insulated. This is a
1-story older house w/attic, these rooms face east & west. Could my
problem be attic insulation??? how do I find out?....any & all
help/ideas much appreciated...Thanks....EL

You don't have a paint problem, you have a moisture problem. It could
be a lot of things. It might be that you have excess humidity, and the
mildew grows on the walls/ceiling just due to high humidity. You could
also have leaks that are making the inside of your walls damp, and then
the dampness seeps through and makes mildew on the side of the wall
that you can see, although it could be going on inside the wall too.
In this case, you would probably be seeing stains in addition to the
mildew.

Go in the attic and look for any leaks or stains, or any other signs of
moisture being not where it is supposed to be. You roof could be
leaking and the water runs along a rafter to a spot far from where the
leak originates and makes a puddle that then turns in to a mold spot on
the other side of the plaster/drywall.

It doesn't matter how old your siding is, water could be leaking in
behind your new siding. In fact, if you have an older house and say
insulation and vinyl siding was added to the outside, that could have
created a vapor barrier that is holding moisture inside the walls and
could be causing your problem.

Basically, you need to figure out where the excess moisture is coming
from, and then correct that problem.

Ken