Moisture.Mold and High Electic bills. Please Help! | Ask Mason Knowles - SPF Consultant | Spray Foam Technical Questions and Answers | SprayFoam Magazine Q&A Forums

Q&A Forums

Moisture.Mold and High Electic bills. Please Help! Post New Topic | Post Reply

Author	Comments
Mike Natal Posted: Sep 23, 2008 04:35 PM	Moisture.Mold and High Electic bills. Please Help! I'm Southern Foam Insulations brother. Let me give you more info to help you answer the question. 1)I have exquast fans in all bathrooms venting outside. 2)My cook top hood is vented directly outside. My moisture.humidity/mold problems do not exist in my home living space that is air conditioned.That relative humidity is aroud 45 to 50% which is inside the normal range. Keep in mind I live in Louisiana where the outside air is humid as heck. I also live on the water where theres a brisk wind most of the time. My problem lies in my attic! Thats where the moisture and mold is. The humidity is on averge 75 to 82% in my attic at any given time. My air conditioned space is about 3000SF. I have two three ton heat pumps, one for the bedroom areas and the other for theliving and kitchen areas. My main question is, what different items should my AC man have done to the inside air handlers since I enclosed my rafters and walls with open cell spray foam vs normal batt insulation?? He did down size mt units by the way. I told my brother I need a thicker per inch average and the attic needs to be completely enclosed are the air seeping in will cause all metal items to draw the moisture to them and sweating will occur all over. I did a negative air test which verified what I just said. What is the main solutin to the air thats in the attic? I was told no to fresh air or make up air being brought in from outside. I was told no to air conditioning my attic. What is the correct thing to do different to the air handlers in the attic with the rafters haveing the foam? Final problem, My electric bill Is $890.00 this past month. Where my neighbors house which is just like mine is $550.00 Please Help! Thanks, Mike N
mason Posted: Sep 23, 2008 05:25 PM	Your situation would require an onsite inspection to see what went wrong. An unvented attic with SPF installed to the underside of the roof deck should reduce the humidty and potential for condensation not increase it and the energy use should be significantly less than other types of insulation. That sounds like a lot of AC for just 3000 sq ft. While I live in Virginia and have a townhome, my 3000 sq ft space is cooled in summer with one 2 ton unit. Stays very cool on 95 degree days. My energy bill never gets above $200.

Author

Comments

Mike Natal

Posted: Sep 23, 2008 04:35 PM

Moisture.Mold and High Electic bills. Please Help!

I'm Southern Foam Insulations brother. Let me give you more info to help you answer the question.
1)I have exquast fans in all bathrooms venting outside.
2)My cook top hood is vented directly outside.
My moisture.humidity/mold problems do not exist in my home living space that is air conditioned.That relative humidity is aroud 45 to 50% which is inside the normal range. Keep in mind I live in Louisiana where the outside air is humid as heck. I also live on the water where theres a brisk wind most of the time.
My problem lies in my attic! Thats where the moisture and mold is. The humidity is on averge 75 to 82% in my attic at any given time. My air conditioned space is about 3000SF. I have two three ton heat pumps, one for the bedroom areas and the other for theliving and kitchen areas. My main question is, what different items should my AC man have done to the inside air handlers since I enclosed my rafters and walls with open cell spray foam vs normal batt insulation?? He did down size mt units by the way. I told my brother I need a thicker per inch average and the attic needs to be completely enclosed are the air seeping in will cause all metal items to draw the moisture to them and sweating will occur all over. I did a negative air test which verified what I just said.

What is the main solutin to the air thats in the attic? I was told no to fresh air or make up air being brought in from outside. I was told no to air conditioning my attic. What is the correct thing to do different to the air handlers in the attic with the rafters haveing the foam?
Final problem, My electric bill Is $890.00 this past month. Where my neighbors house which is just like mine is $550.00
Please Help!

Thanks,
Mike N

mason

Posted: Sep 23, 2008 05:25 PM

Your situation would require an onsite inspection to see what went wrong. An unvented attic with SPF installed to the underside of the roof deck should reduce the humidty and potential for condensation not increase it and the energy use should be significantly less than other types of insulation.

That sounds like a lot of AC for just 3000 sq ft. While I live in Virginia and have a townhome, my 3000 sq ft space is cooled in summer with one 2 ton unit. Stays very cool on 95 degree days. My energy bill never gets above $200.

You need to login to reply to this topic. Please click here to login.