Question about attic moisture

Hi,

The wife and I put a bid on a new house and we just went through it with the engineer. This house is a split level, and while checking the attic crawlspace above the master bedroom, he noticed that the plywood on the roof looked a little damp and there was mold growing on the wood. The insulation is blown in and whoever did this never installed any kind of vapor barrier. Now my questions are:

1) How hard would it be to install a vapor barrier? I know everything has to be sucked out, then the barrier has to be installed, then new insulation has to be blown in. This sounds pretty tricky since the only access is the attic crawlspace and I don't believe the joists would handle a lot of weight.

2) I don't believe I saw any soffits on the outside of the house. Would adding soffits and making sure there was adequate airflow in the attic correct the problem?

I know we're going to be busy taking care of a lot of things when we move in, so I'm not going to have much time to take care of this stuff; and I want to get this taken care of ASAP.

Does anyone know approximately how much this would cost to have it professionally done? We might be able to get this cost taken off of the offer. Thanks for any help!

Reply to
Mastershredd3r
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*BINGO* Most likley the problem is in adequate airflow in the attic. You need soffit vents to let air in, and ridge or can vents to let air out. This is a new house you say? If so proceed with caution. If the builder made an ameture mistake such as this (which could be quite costly to fix correctly I might add) then there's no teling what else they did. (or did not do). If your serious about buying this house, then I'd hire an impartial 3rd party home inspector and have the house checked out. Good Luck!
Reply to
J.A. Michel

That's all likely true. However, before working on all of this the OP needs to eliminate the possibility of a actual leak. Maybe some flashing needs repair or perhaps water is leaking in via a poorly placed nail.

Proper ducting of bathroom vents and adequate ventilation of the roof space are both really important.

However, the first task is to locate the source of the water (leak, condensation, whatever). Fix that and then consider other "improvements" that will help maintain a nice dry roof space.

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

Don't disagree w/ other comments but...are you being represented in this transaction? If not, you should be. Did you place a non- contingent offer? It would be far more advantageous to you in all likelihood to require the seller take care of any problems before the sale closes and a legal beagle can make sure you will have recourse. If you choose to simply make a lower offer, you need far better data than a guess from a usenet group to have any idea of what the actual out of pocket costs could be in order to have any basis whatsoever for what a fair compensation would be. Particularly if you are not interested in doing the work yourself, you may be surprised (astonished/shocked/horrified???) at how fast contractor costs can escalate, particularly if in repairing one problem you uncover others...

In short, my recommendation is to proceed far more slowly than not and with deliberation and wise counsel...

Btw, damhikt... :( :)

Reply to
dpb

Stop! No new house should show this kind of problem. Don't even think about band-aiding the turkey. Take your money and find a better place by a competent builder, maybe even a one or two year old place in a more settled subdivision. What you're looking at now sounds like a money pit of sloppy wormanship and cheap materials that will keep you strapped for years. You've had your warning, don't get conned by aggressive sales people.

Joe

Reply to
Joe

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