dk,
Can I call you dk? I hope it's not too informal.....
Whatever. Anyhow I saw your other thread and can see you've gotten a bit of advice already. Let me make one clarification. Felt is the waterproofing, shingles are the weatherproofing. They armor the felt. It's important.
I read somewhere that a family of four can put as much as 2 gallons of condensation into the household airspace every day. Years ago homes were extremely porous and moisture usually found a way into or out of a house through all the myriad gaps around windows, doors, attic penetrations and the like. For the last 30 years or so we've been focused on sealing up every dollar wasting crack and adding vapor barriers wherever we could find a spot to cover up. In a lot of cases we've created problems where indoor humidity gets trapped and causes all sorts of unwelcome conditions. You should probably get an indoor air quality assessment when the budget allows.
As for the roof it looks as though you may be in what we call a "Cape Cod" style house, ( commonly single story, tall pitch, gable end roof line, sometimes a dormer or two) which has a converted attic. It's common to insulate the walls/ceiling of the conversion and often there's plastic sheeting or plastic backed insulation acting as a vapor barrier. That's what they told us to do back in the 70's when this whole new methodology emerged. Problem is your house was probably not designed to have it's attic taken up by bedrooms. The ventilation got short-circuited, the original air volume where condensation would normally dissipate went away and now what was not a problem is a big issue.
Assuming the shingles went down as per directions ( I read about the felt issue, BAD dk) and you don't have any dormer roofs, vent collars, or chimney flashing causing water to enter from the roof we have to look inside to find the cause of all that condensation. I still wonder if it's a bathroom ventilator. If your house is like the million or so I've seen with a converted attic, the baths are usually still on the first floor. Unless it's an uncommon design it will be, like the kitchen, in the "back" of the house. Over them is usually attic space/wet wall since the plumbing vents rarely get moved. If you can say the there is no "fart fan" in the bathroom or that it has a proper duct and roof vent then we have to look at more complicated fixes.
If there's no fan or it's installed properly (which is rare) then you need to look at your heating system. Forced air units usually have a humidifier which can be turned up too high delivering too much vapor into the home (happens a lot). Also fairly common is the lack of cold air returns installed in attic conversions. You need to pull air from rooms with supply vents if only to effect adequate circulation but also to get moist/cool air back to the furnace which will de-humidify. Often this condition telegraphs itself with the creation of mildew, not always but often.
If you have a radiant system then it can be that a bleeder is leaking, another common problem but that usually manifests right where the problem radiator sits.
There's also the issue of humidity bleeding up via a chimney or duct chase from the basement and causing the condensation but I doubt it. It really sounds as though you have a source of uncommonly humid air being introduced into your attic spaces.
It just occurred to me that you may have a power attic fan. There's an outside possibility that it's equipped with a humidistat controlled switch. If so, disable it. One problem with power vents is that they move around 300-400 cfm. or more and since most inlet vents can't support that much free airflow they suck air in from every gap in the roof. Sometimes the humidistat triggers during high outside humidity periods (rain) and can actually suck water into the attic. There's also a small chance your roof install is causing some water intrusion but I doubt it.
Now, as far as attic ventilation is concerned what I typically do on houses like I've described is install gable-end vents at the peak and vents at the ends of both front and back crawl spaces. That means three vents per side. Once that's done you can usually insulate and vapor barrier until the cows come home. You've created airflow and if you have any breeze at all, Mr. Bernoulli will handle the rest.
Sorry for the wordy reply, now you see why my kids ask their mom most of the "where do babies come from?" type questions.
But seriously, look for the bathroom vent. The number one cause for the condition you describe in my limited experience. I've had homeowners tell me the same thing (no vent) and sure enough, we look and there it is. I've gotten to the point where I can tell how many females are in a home just by the size of the ice sheet forming on the underside of the deck. Just don't wrap up the living area until you've addressed the venting. That can be a nightmare.
I want to start by thanking you for taking the time to read my other post and for taking the time to put your input here. You have given me some other things to think about as I will describe a little further down.
You can call me dk for short
You are right about the cape cod style house only no dormers (wishes he had enough money for full length on one side of the house). It does have high pitch as well. With my limited experience and best guess I would say 10/12 (or whatever is the right way to type that), very difficult to walk with out some sort of support.
The house was built in 1948 and the only insulation that has been added since then was when they added the living space with that batted cellulose insulation and 9 years ago when I remodeled the one end up stairs for my then newborn daughters bedroom which was done with fiberglass insulation.
Air quality testing is not a bad idea though. I have changed 3 of 8 windows downstairs and both windows up stairs, but that was well before these problems started.
I am 100% sure that I have no fart fan because I have changed out the fixture in my bathroom a few years ago and there is no duct work or venting system above the fixture. The bathroom is located on the left side and in the middle of the house but yes it is next to the kitchen which is (believe it or not) in the front left side. The problem area is on the same side as the kitchen and bathroom though and the crawl or attic space is above those.
I have forced air system but it is hardly used. It night 4-5 times a day due to the fact that I burn wood and it mostly heats the house during the day leaving the furnace to run only at night. There also is no system on the furnace or in the house to add humidity into the house. The only exception to that is the pot of water on the woodstove in the basement. The house is usually very dry and dusty during the heating season though.
Now when you mentioned the chimney this got me thinking about some of the changes since the new roof was put on.
The change with the new roof was the elimination of the chimney from guess where, the left side of the house or same side as problem. This chimney was used for the old furnace. I removed it because the new furnace is a high efficiency furnace and uses pvc pipe through the wall for exhaust (which is working fine). When I changed the furnace I placed cold air exchanges in the bedrooms and they are definitely positioned in a location to get amximum airflow (trust me when the furnace runs you here the airsucking through them). The furnace opening in the chimney is blocked with (don't know technical name) foam rubber insulation in the basement. The plan for the chimney was to remove it as we remodeled t each floor (of course starting upstairs for obvious reasons).
Now originally there was no ventilation in the attic spaces or the upstairs anywhere but there was also a double layer of shingles on the roof when I bought the house (thinking probably has nothing to do with current problem other than it may have masked the problem prior to changing the roof).
I noticed that you suggested gable end vents. The only problem with that is the walls of the house are built entirely out of 6 cinder block, which makes this even more difficult to do without the use of ridge venting. I do mean entirely to (subtracting the interior surfaces), the block goes to the rafters even on the end walls. I can see the block in the crawl space.
After reading your post though it seems as though I have added to the problems already there (through the age and prctices at that time) with a few of my own and finally placed the straw that broke the camels back (I know I now show a little age here).
Again thanks for your time and advice here it is appreciated.
I know now I am not the only one who likes to make long posts.
