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This has to be water from above. I just read an artical saying that
if you have at least two coats of oil based paint on the cealing, then
that alone is a vapour barrier, and one in the attic is not really
required. This was a question from an individual who wanted to
insulate an 80 year old home's attic, and was told to not even bother
if that plaster celaing is coated in oil. For that matter I can
guarantee my 42 year old cealing is covered in oil as well. theres no
way the water below my tar paper came up from the kitchen, it would
have to be from above. oes this make sense to any of you?


I agree - I cannot imagine the amount of moisture you describe moving
through a coat of paint.
Acryllic paint allegedly breathes a tad more than oil, but it is still
waterproofing. Someone said
something about a microwave vent melting snow - OP or someone else?
Vent penetration or
flashing can leak, so those should be looked at as possibilities. My
daughter recently had a
leak in an area of repeat problems from a bad remodel.ing feature. She
is happy to have a roof
over her head and if it leaks a little bit, well, life could be a whole
lot worse ) We talked about
roof leaks and got to the matter of ice dams. She called me back the
next day to tell me what
happened when she cleaned her gutters )

If I remember the formula, there should be one square foot of ridge vent
for each 300 square feet
of attic FLOOR space. Sounds like your problem might be too high, but I
don't know how high
ice damming can leak. I've seen small leaks follow a rafter or brace
and fall far from where the
water enters. Good luck!