Inspect Attic

barrycuda72 · Fri Jan 23, 2015 1:15 pm

What is the best way to inspect the attic space for proper insulation and venting.
I have a 2000 28X52 Champion home and always have issues with water dripping from the bathroom fans and we have even had it drip from the Ceiling fan when it gets cold outside. (South Dakota Winters)
We recently replaced all the shingles and roof vents but that did not make a difference.
We do not run any kind of humidifier, the humidity in the house is very low.
So I suspect something odd in the attic but they don't give you any access door to look into and I didn't want to take a saw and start cutting away.

Greg · Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:31 pm

Unfortunately there is NO easy way to inspect it. If you do some quick measuring you will find that there is usually less than a foot between the roof & ceiling. That does not leave a lot of room to do any kind of inspection.

Your best bet may be to do a roof over. That way you can add more insulation and be sure that there is proper ventilation.

Greg

UmpJJ · Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:22 pm

Odds are the vent tubing from the bathroom fan up to the roof is not insulated. That leads to condensation and then it drips back into the bathroom. About your only option is to replace that tubing with insulated stuff, but that involved opening up the ceiling or the roof.
Good luck!

UmpJJ

1987Commodore · Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:19 pm

You could use a borescope and make a small hole in the ceiling, or maybe through a roof vent. You can find them cheap on Amazon or Ebay.
This is assuming you have an actual attic space.
If you have a furnace with a flue up through the roof, there may be an easily removable ceiling panel in the furnace closet to gain a look.

ponch37300 · Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:05 am

When you did the roof would have been the perfect time to inspect the attic. Could have even pulled off a whole piece of sheathing to get a good look and replaced for a couple bucks. For the bathroom fans it's most likely what UmpJJ said. I just posted about this in another thread. The ceiling fans could be many things. But I would guess it's the warm inside air getting out by the ceiling fan and hitting the cold attic air and creating moisture. Maybe take the ceiling fan down see if there are any gaps that air can get out. Take some spray foam and seal it up good. Might help. What kind of roof vents do you have? Any venting by the soffits or at the gable ends? How many and what type of vents do you have on the roof? I'm a big believer in ridge venting and would have put that in when you redid the roof. But that is only one part of a good ventilation system. You need an "intake" and "exhaust" to properly move the air. And also you need to make sure the insulation is done right. If you have insulation pulled up tight to the roof sheathing then you will have moisture issues.