Leaking Roof and Attic Frost
The Dreaded Attic Rain
With temperatures dipping below zero degrees, you may have noticed a little bit of leaking around pot lights, exhaust fans or a leaking skylight. If you only see this leaking in the winter time, chances are you have 'attic rain', or most commonly known as moisture in your attic.
You may be wondering how moisture gets into your attic if it’s not through the roof itself?
Moisture gets into your attic by heat escaping through your insulation. Many attics have inadequate insulation to keep the heat inside the home. In Edmonton before November 2016, the code requirements for attic insulation stipulated that insulations had to have a value of R40, since that time the requirement has risen to a minimum of R50. This means if your home was built before November 2016, most likely your attic has inadequate insulation.
Second is the ventilation, some heat may get into the attic, but proper ventilation must be present to keep air flow. This is where your soffit comes into play. The soffit is the perforated metal that finishes the underneath of the roof’s overhang. The soffit is where the air is drawn into the attic and the vents on the rooftop suck the air out. Adequate soffit venting and rooftop venting are critical to the life of your roof, and to keep moisture out.
In many cases, there may be no signs of leaking for many years and then every little bit there is some brown staining around pot lights, skylights, chimneys, fan vents and any other penetration in your ceiling. What has happened is if you had insulation with a value of R40 or less, a tiny bit of heat is escaping into your attic. When we have extremely cold temperatures, the warm air freezes in the cold attic with some accumulation. As the temperatures warm up, the water drips down onto the insulation, because it is such a small amount, you may not notice any leaking. Every time water gets into your insulation and then dries, the insulation becomes more compact, causing it to lose its R value. You may have started out with R40, but as the years have gone by it has decreased slowly. The leaks may have become more prevalent and the insulation is either in need of a ‘top up’ or a total replacement. In most cases, it is just a ‘top up’ that is needed.
Weatherproof Roofing can handle this problem for you, we will diagnose the problem and give you your options for the solution. We can also rectify the brown spots caused by the leaking with our reliable painting service. Request a Free Quote from Weatherproof Roofing for all your roof leaking needs.
Weatherproof Roofing provides Wholistic roofing solutions, which means from the ceiling up, we will make sure your vapor barrier, insulation, chimneys, skylights, ventilation and all roofing materials are functioning properly to protect your home
If you have moisture in your attic, don’t delay, this is a problem that can rectified, be proactive and save yourself head ache and money.