Good point. I tell my clients this when they have that interior sump system installed in their basement.
no humidifiers
Something you might consider.
Get out of the HI Racket and solve peoples problems.
No Buyer cares if their Door Bell works!
Help Identify and Solve the real building problems.
I think you would be a good candidate.
Thanks David!
I would like nothing more than to do what you and Red Hat are doing, and I think you’re right about the HI racket.
I don’t go into anything half-cocked. I realize that Building Science and qualified IR is a completely different field, and cannot be taken on as an “ancillary” to Home Inspections. If done right, it’s a whole different and separate field, training, and education requirements.
Like a Doctor deciding to become a Lawyer.
At 57, I’m not sure I want to commit to starting what it would take to be as good and successful as you guys are. 
I’m just going to toss in my nickel’s worth. I can see the ridge vent on the exterior pics and you saw the foam didn’t appear blocked. I also saw the soffit baffles in your interior shots - it looks to me that that is where the moisture is entering (darkness of the OSB is moisture?).
But I saw no soffit vents from the outside, my guess they were covered with vinyl when the soffits were built. All the conditioned air is being sucked up the wall cavities through outlet covers and any other gap that a difference in air pressure would allow it to flow.
Good news: His ridge vents work really well. Bad news: His soffit vents are constricted on the outside, causing conditioned (moist) air to flow up the walls and condense on that cold OSB. Solution: Drill in circular soffit vents every 24" along the outside of the soffits (and perhaps send the bath fans out through the roof).
But I’m an inspector, so I may verbalize that solution, but I’d defer to a qualified contractor to review / repair the soffit venting and bathroom exhausts.
I sure hope it’s that simple.
Thank you Steve!
{UPDATE}: Nope, he looked last night, the soffits are vented.
(I only skimmed through all the posts), but keep one thing in mind when beating yourself up about “why now, and not before”… every family has their own unique living habits that affect the RH in a home. Teenagers love to take 30 minute steaming showers without opening a window or turning on a fan, and then open the door to release all that steam into the home… Italians love to boil huge pots of water for their pasta… etc… etc…etc… Consider all that steam being introduced into the attic via bypasses and also venting to the soffits only to be drawn back into the attic.
I am new to the inspection business but I had a lot of experience as an insulation contractor in a previous life. First, is that cellulose insulation? It looks like fiberglass to me. Just a note about the soffit vents shown in your pics. For these to properly work, fiberglass batt insulation needs to be stuffed around the base of the styrofoam baffles above the exterior wall plates to keep loose fill insulation from blowing around them and blocking the soffit air flow. Since the blown in insulation will cover this area you may not realize that the soffit is blocked if the stuffed fiberglass was omitted. I also noticed that the area was black over the duct. Could this duct have come partially loose and be leaking air? Also, the change of occupants could be a source. Perhaps a shower that was rarely used before that one sees heavy use? Bath fan exhaust hose blocked or leaking for the teenagers’ bath?
Where I am, and I don’t think Mike is too far away, every ridge vent in the area is totally sealed with about 5 inches of snow and ice.
All next week the weather forecast is mid 30’s- low 40’s so most if not all of this snow will be gone…for now.
Not much snow here, Dave, only about an inch or so, but it’s been single digits temps
Its just a mind set I was 61 when I first got into IR;-)
Your probably not ready for this till you reach 60!
I often think, “I wish I got into this when I was younger…” but the reality is I didn’t experience enough when I was younger to do it.
A long time ago I read an article by a HI who discussed trying to retire. He jacked up his prices and didn’t try to get any new work. Well, the short of it was that he got more work than he could handle and no one cared what he charged!
Michael your still a young pup! Your potential grows exponentially with age if you don’t limit yourself. I have changed professions six times in my lifetime. I use what I learned in all of them each and every day. You can’t learn this stuff in school. School just helps you pull it all together and keeps you moving forward.
Good stuff Mr Anderson.
Thank you for the words of encouragement.
Especially the “young pup” part!
My birthday is a week before Christmas. My 8 year old granddaughter asked me if they had Christmas when I was little, or was it too new of an idea then.
Ever wanted to choke your own grandchild? :mrgreen:
The last picture has darken OSB. I would start there checking the venting.
I guess ya’ll can’t get over your perception that moisture in the attic can only be addressed with ventilation…
So, you vent more (cut a 2 x 2 foot hole in the roof).
What is happening over at the source of moisture into the attic?
Will this stop moisture damage to the build envelope?
Think again. Think it through…
I just love threads like this one. Most don’t understand how rain is formed it basically a very simple process. It can happen in your attic, in the crawl space, inside a foamed wall or on the exterior of the home. When two different temps of air collide as with a thunderstorm it rains. One must look for the source of the unwanted temp and remove it or stop it from moving from one area to another that has a different temp wal la the rain stops. ( condensation) (dew point) are terms to consider and understand.
Dewpoint and temperature.
The farther you keep them separated you will have no problem with precipitation.
I agree, along with your previous post …“you can’t ventilate your way out of this” 