Wet cellulose

[precaud]

Well I'm bummed. The huge dump of snow we got last week is melting, and has opened up a leak in my roof. 100 sq ft or more of the R60 cellulose insulation that I blew in a few months ago is getting wet. And it is amazing (or sickening) how quickly it is losing it's insulation value. The whole house is suddenly colder, by 4 degrees. And there's probably nothing I can do about it until spring.

I had read that this was one of the downfalls of the cellulose. Never thought it would happen. Sickening.

 

[Hogwildz]

Well I'm bummed. The huge dump of snow we got last week is melting, and has opened up a leak in my roof. 100 sq ft or more of the R60 cellulose insulation that I blew in a few months ago is getting wet. And it is amazing (or sickening) how quickly it is losing it's insulation value. The whole house is suddenly colder, by 4 degrees. And there's probably nothing I can do about it until spring.

I had read that this was one of the downfalls of the cellulose. Never thought it would happen. Sickening.

100 sf is only a 10'x10' area. might look and see if there is some kind of poly system you can out over the blown in to protect it. Fiberglass would also have gotten soaked and done the same I think. Fix the leak ASAP, even if you have to temp it with muck. Personally I would repair it permanently and be done with it.

 

[laynes69]

Unfortunately, Over a period of 10 years, cellouse can settle by 50%. When this happens it will lose its r-value. Also its know for absorbing moisture in the. This is why it settles. I would remove the wet cellouse, which can cause mold growth in drywall if its in the ceiling and for now use fiberglass. Just make sure that leaks fixed first.

 

[jjbaer]

Fix it now....at a minimum two heavy tarps on the roof or better yet, have the roof fixed permanently, now. As for the cellulose: after the roof stops leaking and is patched or fixed, bag the cellulose and dump it for fiberglass........fiberglass doesn't/can't mold by itself as it is not a food source for bacteria but paper (even though it's treated) is because water can reduce the fire retardants and mold inhibitors they put into it.......

 

[Rhone]

Isn't buying a fixer-upper fun

I can't recall if I've ever seen a fixer-upper that didn't have a roof problem, or one that didn't spring up shortly after purchasing. My fixer-upper had about a dozen leaks when I purchased it. The previous owners I believe when they removed the old roof didn't want to spend the time removing the nails still left so they removed the planks, flipped them over so all the remaining nails were facing up, and pushed the new shingles through said nails to fasten the new roof. Genius I tell ya! You needed thick sole boots to walk on the roof else risk getting one of the rusty nails in your foot, and the more you walked on it the better your chance of pushing one of the nails facing up into the attic opening a new leak or making an old leak worse.

 

[precaud]

Isn't buying a fixer-upper fun

Well when I bought this place I didn't know the difference... it was just a house to me!

The previous owners I believe when they removed the old roof didn't want to spend the time removing the nails still left so they removed the planks, flipped them over so all the remaining nails were facing up, and pushed the new shingles through said nails to fasten the new roof. Genius I tell ya!

That's pretty hilarious!

Well it so happens I was just up there inspecting, and the roof is NOT leaking... the leak is right around the central double chimney (most likely place for leaks, in my experience), the snow is melted about a foot all around it and water is puddled there, but the leaking has stopped. So the problem is around the flashing. I guess that's good news, as I had just fixed that part of the roof last summer, and would have been really unhappy if it was leaking already... I did find a couple very small holes/cracks and patched them. We have another storm coming in this weekend so we'll see what happens.

 

[Hogwildz]

Hog,

Your avatar!! I know there're couple nukes out there near Berwick.....did something happen??

Just a joke. They had a couple false alarm soundings a couple weeks ago while running tests. Then sent an "oops sorry we had 2 false alarms" letter. So now I am glowing green. Wondering if maybe I really am in a certain light. LOL

 

[G-rott]

Glad to hear you fond your leak. Did you get it fixed?

With that big an area "wet" I'd bag it up and replace it.

A 100 sq/ft at R-60 is only about 10 bags, a loaner blower will do that quickly enough.

As you noticed water is a good conductor.


Good Luck with your repair/replacement,

Garett

 

[precaud]

Glad to hear you fond your leak. Did you get it fixed?

Too early say yet, thanks. I patched up a couple small cracks that developed near the flashing. I need another good snow and melt to see if those were the culprits.

With that big an area "wet" I'd bag it up and replace it.
A 100 sq/ft at R-60 is only about 10 bags, a loaner blower will do that quickly enough.

Yes, that's what I plan to do this spring.

[/quote]As you noticed water is a good conductor.
Good Luck with your repair/replacement[/quote]
Thanks Garrett. How's your 2110 treating you? Are you venting it on top or rear?