Moisture Problems and Leaks

Moisture and water infiltration is a major cause of home destruction and needs to be addressed before your home is consumed by the elements and nature. Water stains can be caused by roof leaks, other leaks or condensing moisture. There's a lot of moisture generated inside homes. Small water leaks of all kinds can be ignored for a very long time, don’t, they tend to grow into larger and more expensive problems.

It is always rainstorms that tell me I have a problem. In 2023 it was a big rainstorm that told me my roof was shot. After the rainstorm while soaking in the tub I looked up and noticed a small stain in the ceiling over the bathtub.  The two roofers that I consulted both said the roof could not be patched, the roof was shot and needed to be replaced. The 25 year asphalt architectural shingles wore away in under 18 years-possibly helped by the runoff flow from the solar panels.

We are expecting a big rain over the next couple of days, and I am looking forward to checking out the repair and caulking to the large window in the family room. This is the third repair- each one has lasted a couple of years, and I hope to put off the inevitable for a couple more years, but soon enough I will have to replace the all the windows in the family room. I had hoped to save up the money to replace all the windows at once and put new siding on the house, but that no longer seems possible. My windows are failing faster than my savings is growing.

I am just going to have to replace the windows and siding piecemeal. Hopefully, this last repair will hold for the next year or two and, but I will do whatever I have to. Do not ignore water leaks. The damage just accumulates and grows worse. Look for bubbling paint, ceiling or wall stains, and cracks. These are all signs of moisture, and moisture can lead to wood rot.

Wood rot is sometimes called “dry rot,” but that is simply a misnomer. Decayed wood is often dry in the final stages when the wood has blossomed with the bodies of wood-rotting fungus giving rias the illusion of dry rot, but moisture is required for the rot to spread. While the decay is taking place the wood must be moist. Wood rot or decay is caused by fungi, microscopic plants that form threads almost invisible to the naked eye unless they are clumped together. Some fungi merely discolor wood, but decay fungi destroy the fibers that give the wood strength. Spores or “seeds” of decay fungi are always present in the air; they can’t be kept away from wood. But fungi can only grow in wood only when it contains more than 20 % moisture.

There are also two species of fungi that spread from moist soil into dry wood by conducting water to the wood through vine-like structures, but most fungi cannot conduct moisture. Decay happen most frequently when two conditions are present, the wood is regularly soaked and remains wet through a leak, and a section of the wood is exposed or in contact with soil.

Fungi and termites or ants may sometimes occur in the same wood because the moisture attracts pests. Decay fungi soften the wood and, in the final stages, make it spongy or cause it to shrink, crack and crumble, but do not produce the continuous, clear-cut tunnels or galleries characteristic of termite infestation. Often wood decay occurs without termites. To prevent wood decay you need to keep decay fungi from entering the bottom of the structure and keep the wood elements dry.

To prevent moisture, your home site should be well drained. The soil surface should slope away from the house, and downspouts should discharge into drains or masonry gutters or splash blocks that lead the water several feet away from the house. The gutters need to be kept clean and clear of debris to function.  I was careful to choose a house with a natural slope from northwest corner to southeast corner. I added French drains to the west side and south side of the house to move the gutter collected water away from the home and I was careful about maintenance, and yet my home developed a wood rot problem.

Serious decay damage is most often due to one or more of the following errors in construction or maintenance:

1. Poorly drained soil and insufficient ventilation under houses without basements.
2. Wood such as grade stakes, concrete forms, or stumps left on or in soil under houses.
3. Wood parts of the house in direct contact with the soil. 
4. Wood parts embedded in masonry near the ground.
5. Use of unseasoned and infected lumber.
6. Sheathing paper that is not sufficiently permeable to moisture vapor.
7. Inadequate flashing at windows, doors, and roof edges.
8. Poor joinery around windows and doors and at corners, and inadequate paint maintenance.
9. Lack of rain gutters and roofs without overhang.
10. Unventilated attics.
11. Roof leaks; leaks around shower-bathtub combinations, kitchen fixtures, and laundry rooms.
12. Failure to use pressure treated lumber or naturally durable wood where moisture cannot be controlled.

An example of wood rot that can undermine the structure of the house

Senior citizens ripping off the front of the house that was ultimately rebuilt