Moisture?

[mp183]

Renovating the back part of my trailer.
It's from the 1970's.
It was gutted.
The guy doing it found moisture and a little water between the
metal roof and this 1/2" thick buffalo type board.
It was only near the area of the side walls. It seemed to be every other stud. There is the original roof and another roof was added.
The second roof is on new rafters that do not touch the original roof. Roof had new shingles put on last year.
The previous owner said he used something called "fire and ice" under the shingles over the whole roof, not just near the edge of the roof. This is a material that prevents damage when ice dams form on the roof.
Never saw any water penetration during massive monsoon type rain storms that we had during the summer.
I'm assuming that the water and moisture is from condensation.
There was not much insulation up there.
The old windows were always sweating since they were not air tight.
I'm hoping that I'm right.
Any opinions?

[JD]

It seems that you may need a little more investigation to find your problem. Even though the roof was recently installed does not mean it does not leak. "Ice & Water Shield" over the entire roof deck is definitely a plus, but there are other causes of roof leaks other than shingle failure. It could be from the vents, or an installation problem. It would help us give better suggestions if you would post pictures or maybe a better description of the problem.

This surely does not rule out a condensation problem, especially at this time of year. Looking at ceiling insulation can be a problem as well. You need to some how see the ceiling insulation to be sure you have an even coverage.

Wish I could be of more help. Good luck.

JD

[oldfart]

Mp I'm going to attempt to offer up some thoughts and 1 possible solution. First off the problem sounds like condensation in the original "attic". Do you have a peaked, flat or rounded original roof? Not the new roof..the original roof. If the problem is condensation, as I suspect, the reason it's having water damage near the walls is because the condensation on the underside of the original metal roof runs down the underside of the original metal roof & rafters until it builds up enough for droplets to fall. Unto the ceiling. I ran into this when I installed a complete new drywalled ceiling in my 1970 peaked-roof single-wide home. In the summer I had no problem. The first hard frost I had (literally!) rivers of water running down thru my new ceiling at the drywall seams. And..it happened only from sunrise until about noon on clear days when frost was on the roof. Sound familiar? I tried adding in a full-length ridge vent... which only made the problem worse. And cost me a bundle. Ridge-vents don't work on our older homes because the whole idea depends on what is called a "chimney-effect." In short, cold air comes in thru the eaves and warm moist air exits thru the ridge-vent. Works well on normal homes..problem is our homes have no eaves. So it doesn't work. I spent days un-attaching the ridge-vent and sealing up all the holes I'd drilled thru the original roof to vent it. (1/2 in. holes drilled every 2in. or so for 60ft.!) Then had to re-attach the ridge-vent to cover all that mess up. My final solution, before all my new drywalled ceiling ended up on the floor, was to open up the "gable ends" of my home and install an attic fan on a timer. It kicks on 1 hour before daybreak and runs till noon every day from first frost until the last frost of the year. On cloudy days I unplug it..don't need it. If there's snow on the roof..don't need it! (In the summer I can wire the fan up to the thermostat that came with it to exhaust heat from the attic and save me money to cool my home.) One end of my home has a simple gable vent..the other end has the fan blowing out thru a gable vent exhausting the warm moist air as it is heated up in the "attic." If running power to the fan is a problem consider a solar-powered unit. Expensive at first but it kicks on every time the sun rises..no need for timers or thermostats...and it runs for free. Lowes and Home Depot both sell them. It'd do the job winter and summer..eh! Hope this helps my friend. Audie..the Oldfart..

[mp183]

The original roof looks a little on the rounded side.
What is visible from the inside is metal.
The inside of the walls are also metal.
I'm putting in 2x4 studs there and as much insulation as will fit.
The new roof is slightly peaked above the original roof.
The new roof is above the old roof.
There is a space between the old roof and the new roof.
The new roof does not sit on the old roof.
There is probably a foot of space in the center of the roof between the old and new roof and it decrease near the walls.
Never saw any damage to the roof or the walls.
The moisture was noticed when the old ceiling was taken down and the insulation was removed.
It was actually noticed about a week after the insulation and ceiling was removed. The heat was left on at 70 degrees and it
was very cold outside.

Originally the moisture might not have been visible since the ceiling material probably did not absorb the moisture.

There is some rotted plywood in the corners of the floor.
This might have been caused by not having adequate ventilation
underneath the trailer. Might have also been caused by condensation, I'm not sure.

I'm putting new 2x6 rafters and as much insulation as will fit between the drywall ceiling and the underside of the original metal roof.

The suggestion about the fan is a good idea.

The front 40% of the trailer was re-done two years ago and seems to have gone through two winters without a problem.

It was re-done in a similar fashion so I'm hoping for the best.

Hoping that the dead air between the old and new roofs will help the situation.

Thanks for the feedback.