# Condensation in new cold weather construction



## bowen wynd (Jan 1, 2010)

I am building a two storey house and have some issues with condensation forming on both sides of the vapour barrier on the second storey ceiling. The house is located in Edmonton Alberta and the temperature over the past few weeks has been getting colder minus 25 C on average. The heat in the house is on but kept very low. The exterior walls are all insulated and we are getting ready to install drywall. My concern is with drywalling the ceiling with all of that condensation (frost and ice) forming on both sides of the barrier. Is there anything that can/should be done before drywalling the ceiling and insulating the attic space?


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## Quality1st (Aug 1, 2008)

*Heat it Man*

Just heat it better before you rock and thaw it out on the inside. After the lids are rocked insulate it immeadiately


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## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

bowen wynd said:


> I am building a two storey house and have some issues with condensation forming on both sides of the vapour barrier on the second storey ceiling. The house is located in Edmonton Alberta and the temperature over the past few weeks has been getting colder minus 25 C on average. The heat in the house is on but kept very low. The exterior walls are all insulated and we are getting ready to install drywall. My concern is with drywalling the ceiling with all of that condensation (frost and ice) forming on both sides of the barrier. Is there anything that can/should be done before drywalling the ceiling and insulating the attic space?


What are you using for heat? One good point is if the ceiling is not insulated and you sheetrock then add heat condensation will build up, especially if you are heating with a non vented heater. I would open some windows & doors wide open to let the humidity out yes it will cool down the house but it only takes perhaps five minutes to let the trapped moister out then shut them back up. Or you could use a dehumidifier. The biggest problem at hand is get the ceilings insulated asap otherwise you will have some major problems. Myself I would not heat up a home without it being insulated at least for very long. You already perhaps have so much moisture from the concrete , block walls they will dry out eventually. Do you have an air exchanger get it going it will help greatly trust me on that one. Just unplug it when hanging the sheetrock and any sanding then plug it back in. We have use large dehumidifiers you can rent them or just go hook up some smaller ones. Did a home a few years back the ceilings were rocked but no insulation they energized the in floor heat causing all the moister in the concrete to start to dry out , it went straight up to the ceiling where the condensation process started collecting on the ceilings and froze it looked like a ice skating rink. Needless to say there was some drastic measures taken to save the ceiling. Good luck All I have to say is I hate this time of the year for this main reason.


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## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

Make sure also that the proper vents are in place and there is good venting out the top of the roof so you do not trap moister in the attic space or above any ceiling, some times it helps if the vapor barrior is up if you have an access to the ceiling cut the poly out around that area that will let the moister escape out through the roof venting system , In fact this is one way when we tape and there is drying issues because of the cold and humidity I will do this it is a quick fix as long as it is going out the roof and not building up on the underside of the roof sheeting.


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## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

When I mentioned earlier on opening all the windows and doors I have found some rather pissed off people thinking that I am wasting their heat but when you do open them up you can actually see all the vapor escaping when after a few minutes it finally stops just close everything back up. Some will just crack a few windows I don't believe in doing this because Ice will build up over a short time on your window frames and jambs could cause damage to the woodwork then you have another problem of trying to close them not a good situation. It is best to do what I mentioned earlier on occasions perhaps twice a day until things dry out.


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## akcajun (Dec 16, 2009)

we have to do that here in alaska with the windows...


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## [email protected] (Dec 23, 2008)

Same here. I have seen from outside, a fog roll out the windows for that brief few minutes. This usually happens when the temp is in the teens or lower.


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