Tidewater, it looks like your home originally had a slate roof, long since gone. The slate would overlap the gaps in the roof. Your roof would have naturally ‘breathed’ out of the attic space from under the slate, keeping both the lumber and the slate dry. It could be your condensation issue may have started when the slates were replaced. The roof decked with what looks like builders felt between the decking and the boards, may be trapping the damp air in the roof peak space. Is there any venting at the peak? If not, it might be worth looking into installing a ridge vent, give that moist air a what to escape.
Ops, on back reading your roof is shaked, so I suspect was originally shaked not slated. The same concept for both shakes and slate as far as air circulation.
Finished attic mold remediation
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Gothichome
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phil
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Re: Finished attic mold remediation
I'd just pull that loose pink stuff out and refresh it, since that's not a high cost. then you can get rid of any mouse pooplets. the hornets nest should be inactive so I bet it can be slipped into a garbage bag and you'll feel better.
you can look into using a ozone generator. I borrowed one from a friend once and used it.
you have to put your house plants , pets , anything alive away from there and turn int on. the things generate ozone. this kills bacteria , spiders, mold. some use them to rid houses of smoke smells. It's probably a tool you can rent if you want to but you won't have workers in there while it's running. you can treat an area with it , then shut if off, open windows, It isn't; really a bad smell but it isn't good to be in there with the thing running. the air just wont really be breathable during the treatment time, then when you air it out it may smell fresher since it will basically kill those organic components.
what I dont get is why the heat vents would bring in humidity. usually cold things like the back of your toilet will sweat , not warm air pipes. Air returns should also be fairly warm air. I'd do more inspection during heavy rains and see if you can detect any roof leaks and see if anything is actually wet. you might also look near the foundation of the chimney to see if maybe any water is getting in near that and maybe dripping down somewhere. you might have one little nail hole that you aren't aware of, and that may not mean a roof replacement.
you might try spreading out newspapers so you can see if they get wet anywhere?
do you have a furnace or any natural gas heaters that aren't vented?
does your bathroom fan have a vent or is there a fan? sometimes people install a bathroom fan and blow the humidity right into the attic or if that pipe leaks it might cause moist air to leak.
If you are looking at venting I'd also consider a bathroom fan. You can get timers to turn it on at intervals, make it run when you normally shower.
remember if you do have a leak it may go down, so dont hesitate to inspect the basement for any damp areas. you might find things like spiders or silverfish that thrive near damp floors.
check any plumbing stacks that protrude your roof, the boot around them might fail or the flashing might not be right, then the water can follow the pipe to the basement or where it originates, or maybe within a wall. you can tie a rag around any pipes in there to see if the rag gets wet. each sink and toilet should have a vent it uses. some houses also have power cables that go through the roofing. old houses used to often have lead vents with caps to prevent the water getting between the lead flashing and the iron pipe itself. newer ones might look like a tin cover with a rubber gasket around a plastic pipe. old ones could be missing this counter flashing around the pipe and over the lead flashing. you can add a little piece to shelter the roof under the pipe. on one of mine I just stuck a little copper bowl upside down and suspended over the pipe. If rain goes into he pipe that wont matter. what happens is roofers are often hurried and homeowners dont know what to look for so they can skip steps and leave some issues that appear after time if they dont make certain the flashings are done right.
i found I can get the lead vent counterflashings, but if I looked in the box stores they werent; common. most new houses do it with a rubber gasket. if you look from the street you can see how the vents are done and take note if they are lead flashings or if they were replaced with more modern ones when it was re roofed.
the chimney should have step flashing and you can look up how that is done properly. they are basically L shaped pieces that deflect any water from the roof deck back onto the roof deck. they prevent the water from running down the chimney hole.
sometimes they add a counterflashing to hide the step flashing. this is cosmetic trim and it may also be sealed to the chimney. sometimes the flashings are bedded into the gaps in the brickwork around the roofline of the chimney, they can rust out. Its possible to replace them bycutting a groove into he brickwork or chiseling out a gap and then hammering rolled up lead into the cracks to trap in the new flashing. the last roofer may or may not have really done a textbook perfect job of the chimney flashing. if the chimney is wet in the attic this is an issue.
rain that hits the side of your chimney above the roofline gets the brick wet. that water cant; be allowed to follow the brickwork down into the house, it needs to be deflected out onto the roof. That's also the job of this flashing. If it can follow the chimney the chimney will always be wicking up the water and expelling it into the house somehow. If you go around looking and noting how the flashings look on other old houses you will probably see some aren't exactly done well because commercial roofers dont want to involve themselves into these brickwork details if they can get away with reusing it and skipping on to the next job , or fixing it with some type of goop, they do. the side of the chimney that faces the peak often has a "cricket" added but not always. this area is hard to see from the ground and snow can pile up there and want to go down, following the chimney.
if the chimney has no cap then rain may go down inside the chimney. If the chimney is used on a regular basis they may not even have a cap but when people stop using them it can be a place water gets in and stays. my next door neighbor lost lost their chimney because it leaked near the chimney, they called a roofer. The roofer didn't want to deal with brickwork, so they very quickly replaced the roofing bust the chimney away, and put plywood where the chimney was rather than repairing it. Shame because chimneys never get put back again so another one lost. the number of old houses with chimneys is decreasing and new homes never have them now. More free firewood for me
I'd check your gutters too,, make sure they aren't plugged and overfilling or sloped so they aren't working. sometimes they come loose as the attachments fail and they can be pretty heavy if they get full. try to look from outside the house up behind the gutters if it seems to drip on the house side of the gutter that means you need to look closer. stand under the eves look up, is the board that the gutter is attached to wet? any water dripping from it during rainstorms?
when I did my new roof I put some flashing to bridge the space between the edge of the roof deck and the gutter. often this isn't used, they just depend on the roofing to do that, and if the roofing leaks near the gutter it can spill from the roof into that gap before the water gets over the gutter itself. you can only see this flashing if you are up on a ladder as the roofing covers it.
typically the gutters get nailed to a fascia board that has been added and that plank may rot if it is wet. It should be dry.
on the gable ends I added a drip flashing , this prevents water that leaves the end of the roof ( by wind) from creeping back around under the roofing. many old houses dont have flashing like that and it is perhaps something you should do if you convert from wood shingles. that flashing would look dorky with a nice shake roof. Its more normal with asphalt shingle. If the water can shed and not wet the fascia boards things last longer. lots of houses have a strip about 3/4 x 2" that runs up along the top edge of the fascia boards on the gable ends , mine had some rot so I replaced most of them, then the drip flashing covers this strip. a roofer doing a new roof may or may not renew them. by now a lot of these fascia boards are replaced with newer quick rotting wood, mine are all still the originals 100 years old. all this is stuff to consider at re-roofing time.
usually old houses have exposed rafter tails, modern houses usually have vented panels, (Soffit vents) sometimes contractors who are used to how new houses are done, try to apply the newer ways to old houses and can cover issues in there. Originally it may have had wood gutters and been converted to metal gutters.
you can look into using a ozone generator. I borrowed one from a friend once and used it.
you have to put your house plants , pets , anything alive away from there and turn int on. the things generate ozone. this kills bacteria , spiders, mold. some use them to rid houses of smoke smells. It's probably a tool you can rent if you want to but you won't have workers in there while it's running. you can treat an area with it , then shut if off, open windows, It isn't; really a bad smell but it isn't good to be in there with the thing running. the air just wont really be breathable during the treatment time, then when you air it out it may smell fresher since it will basically kill those organic components.
what I dont get is why the heat vents would bring in humidity. usually cold things like the back of your toilet will sweat , not warm air pipes. Air returns should also be fairly warm air. I'd do more inspection during heavy rains and see if you can detect any roof leaks and see if anything is actually wet. you might also look near the foundation of the chimney to see if maybe any water is getting in near that and maybe dripping down somewhere. you might have one little nail hole that you aren't aware of, and that may not mean a roof replacement.
you might try spreading out newspapers so you can see if they get wet anywhere?
do you have a furnace or any natural gas heaters that aren't vented?
does your bathroom fan have a vent or is there a fan? sometimes people install a bathroom fan and blow the humidity right into the attic or if that pipe leaks it might cause moist air to leak.
If you are looking at venting I'd also consider a bathroom fan. You can get timers to turn it on at intervals, make it run when you normally shower.
remember if you do have a leak it may go down, so dont hesitate to inspect the basement for any damp areas. you might find things like spiders or silverfish that thrive near damp floors.
check any plumbing stacks that protrude your roof, the boot around them might fail or the flashing might not be right, then the water can follow the pipe to the basement or where it originates, or maybe within a wall. you can tie a rag around any pipes in there to see if the rag gets wet. each sink and toilet should have a vent it uses. some houses also have power cables that go through the roofing. old houses used to often have lead vents with caps to prevent the water getting between the lead flashing and the iron pipe itself. newer ones might look like a tin cover with a rubber gasket around a plastic pipe. old ones could be missing this counter flashing around the pipe and over the lead flashing. you can add a little piece to shelter the roof under the pipe. on one of mine I just stuck a little copper bowl upside down and suspended over the pipe. If rain goes into he pipe that wont matter. what happens is roofers are often hurried and homeowners dont know what to look for so they can skip steps and leave some issues that appear after time if they dont make certain the flashings are done right.
i found I can get the lead vent counterflashings, but if I looked in the box stores they werent; common. most new houses do it with a rubber gasket. if you look from the street you can see how the vents are done and take note if they are lead flashings or if they were replaced with more modern ones when it was re roofed.
the chimney should have step flashing and you can look up how that is done properly. they are basically L shaped pieces that deflect any water from the roof deck back onto the roof deck. they prevent the water from running down the chimney hole.
sometimes they add a counterflashing to hide the step flashing. this is cosmetic trim and it may also be sealed to the chimney. sometimes the flashings are bedded into the gaps in the brickwork around the roofline of the chimney, they can rust out. Its possible to replace them bycutting a groove into he brickwork or chiseling out a gap and then hammering rolled up lead into the cracks to trap in the new flashing. the last roofer may or may not have really done a textbook perfect job of the chimney flashing. if the chimney is wet in the attic this is an issue.
rain that hits the side of your chimney above the roofline gets the brick wet. that water cant; be allowed to follow the brickwork down into the house, it needs to be deflected out onto the roof. That's also the job of this flashing. If it can follow the chimney the chimney will always be wicking up the water and expelling it into the house somehow. If you go around looking and noting how the flashings look on other old houses you will probably see some aren't exactly done well because commercial roofers dont want to involve themselves into these brickwork details if they can get away with reusing it and skipping on to the next job , or fixing it with some type of goop, they do. the side of the chimney that faces the peak often has a "cricket" added but not always. this area is hard to see from the ground and snow can pile up there and want to go down, following the chimney.
if the chimney has no cap then rain may go down inside the chimney. If the chimney is used on a regular basis they may not even have a cap but when people stop using them it can be a place water gets in and stays. my next door neighbor lost lost their chimney because it leaked near the chimney, they called a roofer. The roofer didn't want to deal with brickwork, so they very quickly replaced the roofing bust the chimney away, and put plywood where the chimney was rather than repairing it. Shame because chimneys never get put back again so another one lost. the number of old houses with chimneys is decreasing and new homes never have them now. More free firewood for me
I'd check your gutters too,, make sure they aren't plugged and overfilling or sloped so they aren't working. sometimes they come loose as the attachments fail and they can be pretty heavy if they get full. try to look from outside the house up behind the gutters if it seems to drip on the house side of the gutter that means you need to look closer. stand under the eves look up, is the board that the gutter is attached to wet? any water dripping from it during rainstorms?
when I did my new roof I put some flashing to bridge the space between the edge of the roof deck and the gutter. often this isn't used, they just depend on the roofing to do that, and if the roofing leaks near the gutter it can spill from the roof into that gap before the water gets over the gutter itself. you can only see this flashing if you are up on a ladder as the roofing covers it.
typically the gutters get nailed to a fascia board that has been added and that plank may rot if it is wet. It should be dry.
on the gable ends I added a drip flashing , this prevents water that leaves the end of the roof ( by wind) from creeping back around under the roofing. many old houses dont have flashing like that and it is perhaps something you should do if you convert from wood shingles. that flashing would look dorky with a nice shake roof. Its more normal with asphalt shingle. If the water can shed and not wet the fascia boards things last longer. lots of houses have a strip about 3/4 x 2" that runs up along the top edge of the fascia boards on the gable ends , mine had some rot so I replaced most of them, then the drip flashing covers this strip. a roofer doing a new roof may or may not renew them. by now a lot of these fascia boards are replaced with newer quick rotting wood, mine are all still the originals 100 years old. all this is stuff to consider at re-roofing time.
usually old houses have exposed rafter tails, modern houses usually have vented panels, (Soffit vents) sometimes contractors who are used to how new houses are done, try to apply the newer ways to old houses and can cover issues in there. Originally it may have had wood gutters and been converted to metal gutters.