The Home Improvement Thread

[CroFlames]

It might just be the perfect storm in the closet area. Lack of airflow, sudden temperature drop outside, and it might be N or NE facing? Air flow within the home is super important during the dry winters as the humidity inside is drastically different that outside. Any trapped air will condense like that.

Like Fuzz said, get a fan in there. When the frost dissipates, keep everything away from the corner for a good week or two and monitor it before you take down soffits.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

My issue is, if this has been happening for years when it gets cold here ever since the building was built, and melting etc, is there a bigger issue than what's on the surface there...

[Wormius]

We had an issue with some cantilevered closets in our house. We did some spray foam under the floor and it helped, but those closets still get very cold.

[Geraldsh]

With only 6 more weeks of winter, I’d run a fan until it nice enough to work outside on the soffits.

[Shazam]

Cantilevers suck. I had the same problem with mine.

I spray foamed the cavity underneath. Ended the issue.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/fro...kit/1001821722

[Drak]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The blue looks better with white accents.

But the green looks better overall. Go green.

I like green but neutral based or grey types. I'm currently remodeling our bathroom and at this point I'm going with SW Pewter Green for the beadboard wainscoting and SW Oyster Bay for the main walls.

[CroFlames]

Another win for #teamgreen.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Cantilevers suck. I had the same problem with mine.

I spray foamed the cavity underneath. Ended the issue.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/fro...kit/1001821722

It's amazing those pass building code without proper insulation. Seems to be a known problem for years.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It's amazing those pass building code without proper insulation. Seems to be a known problem for years.

That doesn’t pass code anymore but what it does pass is the fact there’s zero inspection of that type of thing.

[Wormius]

So we found some old pink insulation along an exterior wall that looked like it had some mold, it is discoloured, but not looking wet or otherwise horrible. Outside of house, stucco looks kind of damp. Anyway, the weird thing is, contractor thought we should put some vapor barrier along the interior-facing sheathing inside the house, then new insulation, then vapor barrier, and finally drywall.

This seemed kind of insane to me, and I suggested we just do everything the usual way and we’ll investigate the issue from the exterior side in the spring or summer.

Am I off-base here? I have never heard of putting vapor barrier over the sheathing inside the house, but it sounds like a bad idea that could make things worse, especially if we can’t get around to addressing the issue right away. And I don’t even know if it was just an old problem that was already remedied. Just wondering if it was reasonable to dismiss the suggestion or if this is an accepted way of dealing with this.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Wormius

So we found some old pink insulation along an exterior wall that looked like it had some mold, it is discoloured, but not looking wet or otherwise horrible. Outside of house, stucco looks kind of damp. Anyway, the weird thing is, contractor thought we should put some vapor barrier along the interior-facing sheathing inside the house, then new insulation, then vapor barrier, and finally drywall.

This seemed kind of insane to me, and I suggested we just do everything the usual way and we’ll investigate the issue from the exterior side in the spring or summer.

Am I off-base here? I have never heard of putting vapor barrier over the sheathing inside the house, but it sounds like a bad idea that could make things worse, especially if we can’t get around to addressing the issue right away. And I don’t even know if it was just an old problem that was already remedied. Just wondering if it was reasonable to dismiss the suggestion or if this is an accepted way of dealing with this.

You’re perfectly on base. That’s a terrible idea. You don’t want to be trapping moisture inside the wall cavity by having vapour barrier on both sides. I’d be getting a new contractor too if that’s the kind of advice you’re getting. That’s like a mechanic telling you to put sugar in your gas tank to take care of some knocking in the engine.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

You’re perfectly on base. That’s a terrible idea. You don’t want to be trapping moisture inside the wall cavity by having vapour barrier on both sides. I’d be getting a new contractor too if that’s the kind of advice you’re getting. That’s like a mechanic telling you to put sugar in your gas tank to take care of some knocking in the engine.

Thanks. Yeah, he is just doing drywall and patching and painting, which is going well, but his advice on this felt kind of off, especially given we had the roof replaced and some leaks dealt with in the past, so if this mold is ancient history, I don’t want to have to rip off stucco and sheathing later to get out the vapor barrier “fix”.

That said I wonder why the stucco is damp. The area of mold is pretty isolated between studs and this is the exterior, below a soffit.

spoiler for size

Spoiler!

[topfiverecords]

Is the area above that triangle of soffit attic?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Is the area above that triangle of soffit attic?

Yes, that would be attic space above.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Yes, that would be attic space above.

Have you been in the attic? I’d suspect you might be getting some attic rain and warm air condensing on and near that soffit, freezing and then when thawing it’s draining down onto the stucco.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Have you been in the attic? I’d suspect you might be getting some attic rain and warm air condensing on and near that soffit, freezing and then when thawing it’s draining down onto the stucco.

I haven’t gone up in the attic recently, but that makes sense. Should the soffit be a different design or something? Or is this something stucco clad houses have to live with?

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I haven’t gone up in the attic recently, but that makes sense. Should the soffit be a different design or something? Or is this something stucco clad houses have to live with?

The soffit isn't a part of the problem, and is actually being helpful in exposing the issue. If it was solid you'd have no relief for the water to drain at that location, but I'd be way more worried about the state of the rest of the attic and ceiling. If you have that much coming out of that triangle, where is the rest going?

[Drak]

I have a question. I own a 1940's lath and plaster walled house (sucks) and although I initially patched some cracks in a few rooms, they've split open again in some spots. Back when I first started renovating I didn't know much and just used tape and mud in those spots. I'm going to be repainting and renovating some of these rooms over the next month. Would cutting along the cracks then filling with PL construction adhesive and/or some paintable latex caulking in the cracks help? The cracks are small, like pencil lines.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I need a 6 foot bathroom vanity. I want a good deal. Any tips?

Also, the roof framing has begun...

[CroFlames]

Good idea taking all these pictures. Next time you wanna hang a shelf or something, you can look back and it'll be much easier to find studs.