When a warm sunny day arrives after a long cold stretch and it seems like you have a roof leak when there isn t a cloud in the sky it s probably attic icing otherwise known as ice dams or ice damming and the surprising thing is that it s very unlikely that the roof covering itself is the problem.
Is frost in the attic normal.
The nails that you see in your attic get as cold as the outdoor temperature.
The unusual amounts of frost last year likely melted.
The warm air you are paying for to heat your home is leaking into the attic because your house is not sealed from the attic.
Now on occasion you could actually have small amounts of snow windblown in from your roof through your roof vents that is not normal but it is a common problem and that would be a fix your roofer could do maybe add an extra shingle cap on your ridge vent or something.
A point often overlooked is that since it s winter the water freezes on the cold nails.
So the short answer is yes this is something you should fix.
Last winter i noticed condensation and water droplets on the nails that stick through the roof into the attic.
No it is not normal to have frost in your attic it means you have warm moist air leaking in your attic from your house.
Ice frost and water in an attic condensation new construction text.
Boxes stored in the attic were sometimes wet.
How does humid air get from our house and into the attic.
To start frost shows up in the attic when moisture laden air from the house gets into the attic.
At times there was ice and frost on the nails.
Lots of ways many of which are small is difficult to detect.
That s about it pretty simple.
Frost in your attic space is a sign that warm humid air is somehow getting into your attic space.
This is why you see the frost.
Left unchecked moisture in the attic can lead to serious mold and decay expensive to repair and potentially unhealthy for anyone in the house.
Since our minnesota winters are usually dry the only other source of humid air is your living space.
Frost in the attic comes from the house.
When the moisture gets into the attic it condenses on the roof.
My wife ali and i bought an old house 18 months ago.
Where the water comes from.
This winter warmer dryer weather has seen the return of more normal attic conditions with significant frost seen only in problematic attics.
What ends up as frost in the attic starts as water somewhere else in the house.