This Damn House.........!

[USAF Sarge]

This damn house will either be the death of me, or where my ass will be buried under!

I had back injections today, so I'm more worthless than regularly, but my wife never stops doing her repairs.

So.........My wife tore up two layers of flooring in the DR, there are 3 layers in the kitchen, so she can start laying the new flooring, and announces hey something just poured on me!

Investigate a little and discover water leaking in around the chandelier again. Well it isn't rain water, left over from the storm, so what could it be? The damn AC ducting........? Yeap looks like it could be what the culprit is!

Turns out a section of that friggin high ass ceiling the wife just painted, must now come out so the ducting can be addressed.

Pic 1 Blank canvas ready for the new flooring.

Pic 2 Shows the chandelier in the DR ceiling.

Pic 3 Shows were the AC ducting is above the DR ceiling, the post for the chandelier is just to the left of this ductwork.

.

 

[Duckyou]

That is not a great place to run duct work. There is normally a lot of heat and humidity in cathedral ceilings. When the duct works cool off you get a lot of condensation (either inside or outside the duct work.

If possible run it a different way.

 

[Fanner50]

Ain't no way in hell I would get on that roof.

 

[Fishinspot]

I used to own a house of that same style in Panama City. Callaway area. They must have built a lot like that. Sorry for all your issues. Hope once these things are done ya’ll can relax!

 

[USAF Sarge]

Ain't no way in hell I would get on that roof.

I rolled down the front side many years ago, the asphalt singles did a number on me, but slowed me down, and the grass was a soft landing. It was the last time I went up on the high roof again.

As I was coming off the peak I kicked the ladder and it fell/slid and I was already committed. I went straight down and the ladder at an angle. Prior to that incident I would tie myself off to the chimney, and had loops in the rope to put a carabiner in to take up or let out slack. Why I didn't that day is beyond me.

 

[kidsoncoffee]

I rolled down the front side many years ago, the asphalt singles did a number on me, but slowed me down, and the grass was a soft landing. It was the last time I went up on the high roof again.

As I was coming of the peak I kicked the ladder and it fell/slid and I was already committed. I went straight down and the ladder at an angle. Prior to that incident I would tie myself off to the chimney, and had loops in the rope to put carabiners in to take up or let out slack.

Damn. I hear ya too on the back injections. I get an injection of some sort every month or month and a half. Tons of epidurals and piroformal injections. I'm worthless without them, and worthless with them but can sleep a little better. It sucks man. They've been trying to cut on me for 4 years now but I'm not ready to fuse discs. I'm still in my 30s. That's a pretty stout roof, have you thought of solar panels to take the heat instead? What I mean is if you put in panels, it would knock down the heat on the roof in that area and possibly stop that condensation with the added benefit of solar power. Not sure if you're in the position financially to do it, but it might be an option.

 

[USAF Sarge]

That is not a great place to run duct work. There is normally a lot of heat and humidity in cathedral ceilings. When the duct works cool off you get a lot of condensation (either inside or outside the duct work.

If possible run it a different way.

True, but there is no other way to get air to the kitchen, as it's on the front of the house, between the house and garage. I call the kitchen the hallway to the garage. It's a galley kitchen (Which is great if you don't like cleaning kitchen's, as it's so small).

My fear is that we never had this issue since we bought the house in Feb 1993. After the hurricane (Oct 2018) we had leaks there from roof damage, in Jan 2019 they put a new roof and HVAC in.

Issue 1. They didn't seal around the HVAC so there was a big gap beside it open to the attic above the main house, caused the unit to sweat, and caused the insulation around the ducting to become soaked......My wife re-sealed (duct butter), and replaced the insulation around ALL the ducting in the attic above the second floor. Now leaning towards having to do that downstairs......

Issue 2. Is it possible that when they patched in above the ducting when replacing the roof, did nails go into the ducting there? Now creating a perfect storm, chilled air mixing with heated air creating condensation, which builds up and leaks down the chandelier post......

But why was there no issue for 2 summers basically, and only started having symptoms towards the end of the second summer. We are actually keeping the house a little warmer this year versus last year. With my health issues and meds I don't tolerate heat very well. Last summer I kept the house at around 64, this year I managed to go up to 68, will try a little higher next summer. Trying to find a temperature that keeps me from overheating and not make everyone else wear sweaters and sweats in the summer, because I'm on the verge of getting naked to cool off. Even at 64 degrees I was in shorts and a t-shirt and would shed my shirt as the day went on. My poor wife, bundled up in the summer having to look at my half naked ass, she should qualify for hazard pay for that!

Frustrating is an understatement, that is for sure!

 

[kidsoncoffee]

It's absolutely plausible that they punctured it with nails if it's thin wall ducting. Seeing as it rest against the plywood decking, a roofing nail in the shingles could penetrate it. I don't know the kind of ducting so I can't speculate past that. If you know the thickness, then look in the attic and measure the distance the nails stick through then account for the duct thickness. That will tell you one way or the other.

 

[USAF Sarge]

I used to own a house of that same style in Panama City. Callaway area. They must have built a lot like that. Sorry for all your issues. Hope once these things are done ya’ll can relax!

We're in Callway, in the Shadow Bay subdivision. There are two almost identical to ours in another subdivision, one is on Courtford and the second one is in a circle off of Courtford, which isn't all that far from our house.

 

[USAF Sarge]

It's absolutely plausible that they punctured it with nails if it's thin wall ducting. Seeing as it rest against the plywood decking, a roofing nail in the shingles could penetrate it. I don't know the kind of ducting so I can't speculate past that. If you know the thickness, then look in the attic and measure the distance the nails stick through then account for the duct thickness. That will tell you one way or the other.

That ducting is rigid (Looks like thin galvanized steel, with a length wise weld seam) wrapped in insulation.

 

[kidsoncoffee]

That ducting is rigid (Looks like thin galvanized steel, with a length wise weld seam) wrapped in insulation.

If it's wrapped in insulation, then you're probably good to go and just dealing with high temps of the roof and lack of insulation from the ducting and the roof. No ducting should be run against a roof like that though because it does present problems like you're experiencing. You need adequate insulation around the duct work especially in our climate. If the leak presented itself in the past 2 or 3 weeks, those were some of the hottest days we've had all year. And if the roof was done in 2019, then you probably didn't experience that type of heat until now. It's safe to say that you've found the issue, you just have to find the solution now. Is it at all possible to provide any more insulation to the duct work on that run through that particular area? I'd also be looking for accumulated water damage at the bottom of that run. It could be going between the walls and going unnoticed. I had that issue and had to insulate my ducting from the top. It fixed it, but not before it caused some water damage to the drywall and plywood of the roof.

 

[Viking1204]

@USAF Sarge have you thought about maybe having your attic ceiling spray foamed? That would cut down the heat and humidity in the attic and should dry things up. It will save you on your A/C bill especially since you like to keep it so cool.

 

[USAF Sarge]

@USAF Sarge have you thought about maybe having your attic ceiling spray foamed? That would cut down the heat and humidity in the attic and should dry things up. It will save you on your A/C bill especially since you like to keep it so cool.

Actually we have entertained that thought, once all the other projects are done......

 

[FrankT]

WOW, hope you get better soon and all your issues fixed...BUT when finished please send your wife over here, can't get mine off the couch!

 

[fl57caveman]

WOW, hope you get better soon and all your issues fixed...BUT when finished please send your wife over here, can't get mine off the couch!

you in trouble now....

 

[FrankT]

you in trouble now....

She never reads the forum

 

[Viking1204]

She never reads the forum

And that's the last time we heard from Frank LOL!

 

[USAF Sarge]

WOW, hope you get better soon and all your issues fixed...BUT when finished please send your wife over here, can't get mine off the couch!

Here's some shots of the work she has done.......Bedroom 2 showing water damage from chimney damage, her demo, her completed project.

 

[USAF Sarge]

WOW, hope you get better soon and all your issues fixed...BUT when finished please send your wife over here, can't get mine off the couch!

Here's some shots of the work she has done.......Bedroom 3 showing water damage from broken window, and roof leak around plumbing vent, her demo, her completed project.

 

[Raven]

Ain't no way in hell I would get on that roof.

That's an easy pitch. I've decked worse. You go to sliding, you just put your framing hammer right thru that plywood and anchor yourself, like it's an ice axe and you're sliding on ice, because that's what it feels like.