What are you builders doing to overcome moisture issues while building in cold Northern climits? We have devoloped some dripping areas while skim coat plastering. Thought we had the problem licked when we poured the gypcrete. Slow and low RF heat, FHA vented LP fired, oil fired salamander, and a dehumidifier. Building was dry (30%+/- RH) prior to insulation and vapor barrier. Blue board went up and skim coat going on with the temp at 50/55 degrees. A little frost on some windows down low but nothing major while it was being applied. The plasterer wanted that temp in the day and we would turn up the heat a little at night after he left. Yesterday it hit 40 outside and oh my god! Where is this H2O coming from? go up into the attic and water is dripping off the underside of the roof sheathing, wicking thru the FG, and wetting the plaster. We get the heat cranked up again, 3 box fans running, and 3 dehumidifiers running. One was set up in the attic space. (Bought 2 more)
Thank god the plaster is just about done. Get him and his water out of my house!!
Any advice?
Replies
You could try using dry plaster but it doesn't stick very well.
Could be that the ambient moisture of the air outside is high and therefore causing you difficulty in disipating what you have inside.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -Albert Einstein
http://www.peteforgovernor.com
This problem crops up more often then everyone might imagine. In a past life I did a little chemistry and this is one of those situations where all that past effort pounding the books really pays off. Basic organic will tell you that when you burn (combust) any organic gas in air ( about 18% O2) you get two, sometimes three, things. In goes hydrocarbon and oxygen and out comes Carbon Monoxide and or Carbon Dioxide and water. If you sit down and balance your input/output equations and take into account the density of liquid propane you'll see that for every gallon on propane you burn you add just about a gallon of water to the air inside the house. Now that ain't too noticable since that gallon of water is in the gas phase so most people don't know they're even doing it. Now this is where we begin talking about relative humity and that's is where it starts to get tricky. The relative humity drops as the temp rises but if you turn off the heat and let things cool a bit, that relative humity will soon reach 100% and then your going to start to have problems.
Another problem also crops up and becomes even more serious as the day passes. If the house is completly closed and your burning propane inside to heat the place up and try to dry the place out
, the amount of available oxygen drops as long as you continue to burn that propane heater. AS the the available oxygen drops the quantity of carbon monoxide your generating increases and if your not carefull, you'll end up passing out if your lucky and maybe dead if your not lucky.
We solved this problem by using electric heaters and electric dehumidifiers to dry the sheatrock inside and it works much better and faster. Not to mention, much safer too and no one goes home with the nagging headache anymore either.
Take this to heart guys and gals, stop using propane heaters in closed spaces and get yourself down to store to get yourselves some electric heaters and dehumidifiers. It may not have the same drama that propane heaters have but then again, you'll likely live a lot longer too.
Peace Out!
Our propane IS vented. We vented it to eliminate the moisture issue you bring up.
I think it needs to be warmer and the dehumidifier needs to run continuously. 65 degrees using an electric furnace is what I prefer, and start that as soon as possible, as soon as the windows and doors are in. Stuff like gypcrete, plaster, drywall mud, paint... it all adds moisture to the atmosphere. So do a bunch of living breathing carpenters. That gypcrete may be giving off moisture for many months.