chrisc wrote:
Please someone help!!!! My main problem is in my kitchen along the
entire ceiling where it meets the wall there is moisture when it is
very cold out only. It gets to where there are droplets on the
ceiling. I also saw this in 2 other rooms , but very little spots.
My second problem is my windows have A LOT!! of water condensation
on them to the point where it leaves water on the sills and mold
forms.I assume the 2 problems are related. I have a humidity gauge
that usually reads in the lower 50's. The lowest I've seen it get is
48. And no I don't do anything out of the normal to be causing it .
Yes, I have a bathroom vent, no kitchen vent and two big dogs. But, I
am barely home and barely cook.
I had a few people come out and take a look. Home Depot looked up in
my crawl space and said I didn't need insulation (Have about 16-18")
and that it was a ventilation problem. I have plenty of soffit
vents.They did all these calculations and said that I had too much
ridge vent and I should try closing two of the 3 off. So, I plugged
some tarps into the 2 to see what would happen. You guessed it,
nothing!. Another guy said he doesn't like the baffles. They are
garbage and he would install pink (panther?) baffles and reblow the
insulation to R38. He also said that where the moisture problem is
along the ceiling the previous person must have pulled the insulation
back to install the baffles and never hand rolled the inulation in
which he would do. He also said he would guarantee his work on paper.
This made sense for the kitchen ceiling problem, right?. A couple
other guys just wanted to add more insulation.
I wanted to check the problem out for myself to see if there was no
insulation where the problems spots are. But, my house is a ranch and
the roof is very low in the crawl space so how the hell do you get
that close to the wall where the roof meets to check? Also, I don't
want to compress the insulation thats already up there cause it was
done last year.
The windows are new gas filled. But, I held a kleenex along them on a
very windy day and there are drafts. Could this be causing the
moisture (bad windows)?.

I will be more than happy to take any suggestions or answer any
questions to help me out. Thanks a lot.

First principles: The ceiling is cold enough for ambient humidity to
condense. These, then, are the two things required: Cold & moisture. If you
fix one of the twowell enough, condensation will disappear.

The easiest fix is to run a dehumidifier full blast. This may not be the
best fix, but it's the easiest.

My bet is on insufficient attic insulation. Is there a ceiling light fixture
that can be removed to gain inspection access? Can you buy one of those
itty-bitty pc-cams and duct-tape it to a pole? Can you tape a thermometer to
the ceiling or get an infared thermometer?

Once you've determined that the insulation is, in fact, subnominal, you can
then decide what to do next:
1. Get the original contractor back and have him fix it,
2. Find somebody, somewhere, who can get the insulation in place,
3. Remove the ceiling and insulate from below.

Then, too, there may be other actions at play: Are you boiling a lot of
lizards?

The vapor from the cooking pot has to go somewhere. The humidity may be 50%
in a closet, but 90% in the kitchen.