Home Repair forum - Ceiling leak

Author

Ceiling leak

Melissa

2005-07-09, 11:25 pm

We have discovered a new leak in our living room ceiling. Water is not
dripping, but the ceiling material is wet with fresh water. We are
under rain bands from Dennis right now. The roof is new, and we have
3 turbine vents and soffits which run completely across the perimeter of
the house. They are all clear, as they were just replaced. Hubby went
up in the attic to look to see if it was water blowing in through the
turbines, but said everything seems dry from above the insulation. He
brushed against the a/c ducts and said they are soaked on the bottom,
they are wrapped in a foamy foil insulation, we believe they are round
inside the insulation if that matters. The a/c ducts into each room are
not dripping (though some have in the past), but he believes the wetness
may be a low spot in the ducts in the attic between one duct and
another. He went outside to check the a/c drain, it shut off
automatically while out there and a lot of water poured out of the drain
all at once. The a/c system is about 1 year old, the ducts are as old
as the house, so 27 years. We've frequently had problems with the duct
in the master bedroom dripping, but we thought that was caused by steam
coming from the bathroom condensing on the duct when the air is running.
The outside air is very humid, and has been for 2 days due to Dennis.
We keep the a/c at about 74. We live in central FL. Sorry if this is
too much info, don't know what is important. Any guesses as to what we
should do? Is the a/c set to low for this humidity? A/C ducts need
replacing? Something else? Thanks!

Melissa

roger61611@yahoo.com

2005-07-10, 4:25 am

Wow, that's odd, I thought *I* had every bad thing possible happen.
Questions, just so your post doesn't roll off - does this happen when
it han't been raining ? Is it really hot in your attic ?

Here's a post from someone with a similar problem but you state you
have the insulation:

http://boards.diynetwork.com/eve/ub...22/r/7871034922

Another about dealing with uninsulated, again though it sounds like
yours are wrapped so I dunno what you got going on.

http://www.ibacos.com/qhome/Oct03/duct.html

Hope the hurrican is kind to you and everyone else, it smoked part of
Cuba.

Melissa

2005-07-10, 6:25 pm

roger61611@yahoo.com wrote:

quote:

> Wow, that's odd, I thought *I* had every bad thing possible happen.
> Questions, just so your post doesn't roll off - does this happen when
> it han't been raining ? Is it really hot in your attic ?

Yep, this is hurricane #5 impacting our home to some extent in less than
1 year. It is quite hot in the attic, but we live in central FL, so
that's normal. It's not any hotter now that it would have been at any
point in the 4 years we've lived here. The amount of ventilation in the
attic is the same as it has always been, though the soffits are clear
now, where they were slightly blocked by loose fiberglass insulation
that had drifted in the past. There are dry stains on the living room
ceiling from past leaks, but the roof was in really bad shape until we
replaced it about 2 months ago, we feel fairly confident those leaks
were related to the roof. This is the first new leak we've seen since
then. We did have a problem with a large water spot in our closet when
Ivan looped back over us last year, which is the only storm we didn't
lose power with, so the only one with a/c running through the duration.
I don't know if the closet water leak is coincidence or not. We have
thunderstorms and heavy rain nearly every day, so I don't see how it
would matter, but maybe it does. The closet is where the a/c enters the
house. The air line that runs to the a/c goes under a built in bench in
the closet. The air that comes from the a/c runs over the return and up
through the wall in the closet. This is how it looks to me anyway. All
of the duct vents? have water stains around them, again we thought it
was a humidity type thing, where someone left a door or window open,
while running the a/c, and the condensation built up. I guess we are
wrong, but don't know what the next step is. Is there a problem with
the a/c, a problem with the ducts, completely something else and the
ducts are just where the problem shows up? I just don't know if we need
to contact an a/c person or an insulation person, or someone else. I
don't want to be told our ducts all need replacing if it's a case of us
needing more attic insulation for instance. Or vice versa.

quote:

>
> Here's a post from someone with a similar problem but you state you
> have the insulation:
>
> http://boards.diynetwork.com/eve/ub...22/r/7871034922
>
> Another about dealing with uninsulated, again though it sounds like
> yours are wrapped so I dunno what you got going on.
>
> http://www.ibacos.com/qhome/Oct03/duct.html
>
> Hope the hurrican is kind to you and everyone else, it smoked part of
> Cuba.
>

I wonder after checking the links you sent, if it's a matter of the
insulation around the ducts going bad? Is that even possible? I don't
do ladders, but hubby said it looked like the tape that holds the
insulation together had failed at a couple of points. He said the tape
looked like it wasn't sticky anymore and just sort of fell away in a
couple of places. I wonder if the temp we keep the a/c at, with the
heat in the attic, is causing enough condensation at the weak/loose
points of the duct insulation that it could cause a build up of water to
a high enough degree that it would wet the ceiling enough that we could
see it? I'm thinking I need to check into getting the duct insulation
replaced...

Thanks for the well wishes, we are out of Dennis for the most part, just
the tail of the bands still coming up to us. Sending prayers that most
fled inland from the panhandle and that their homes hold fast. They
will surely be in for another long clean up and repair time after this
one. And thanks for your help Roger!

Melissa

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