The Log house Project begins........

[bindian]

I can read interior humidity, so when the weather turns colder I'm going to record everything in writing. Once I have the baseline I will know what direction to go.

Smart plan, Rick.
hugs, Brandi

 

[pacerron]

"There are preformed foam fillers that normally go between the top of your roof panels and the bottom of the ridge cap to keep out bugs and more importantly snow and blowing rain. Did you use them?"

Negative...nothing is blocking any of the rib openings anywhere on the roof. I'm not sure what you are trying to explain about raising the ends of the panels. To vent the sides of the roof between the purlins would only require a slot cut into the gable drip panels. But, unless done properly water will be able to blow right in them(same with the end cap vents). Before I modify anything, I am going to take the time to make sure it's done right and not cause more problems than I'm fixin'.

I can read interior humidity, so when the weather turns colder I'm going to record everything in writing. Once I have the baseline I will know what direction to go.

Rick,
I agree.. take it slow and see what happens over winter before doing anything drastic.
I can see why you didn't understand what I was talking about. I was talking in reference to how the gable ends of my barn let air out. They are protected from the rain with molding but you can see by the light are quite open. No bug screens but that's because it is a barn.
Rather than taking time to draw an isometric sketch to explain my ramblings I messed with some of your posted pictures for a few minutes to explain what I meant. Didn't try to line things up, just tried explaining the idea. I'm sure your tin overlaps by a rib along the edge but taking a few screws loose allows getting the tin on one side from under the next piece.
I put captions under the pictures that should make the idea clear. The height of the raised panel above your present roof plane would depend on
how many cubic feet of volume the tunnel needs to equal the volume under the tin between the purlins and on how you would flash the raised side strips to the present roof panels. The sides of the box would simply be attached to the top surface of the purlins. That would allow a continuation of the air flow to the center and upward. You would need some horizontal purlin pieces recessed level with the top of the box edges to give support to the tin in the center just like now. Since elevating the tin piece 4-6" above where it is now, it will become too short to span from the cupola side inlet to the bottom but you will need to add another piece anyway to extend it down to meet the porch roof. You could frame a hole under the porch roof and screen it to act as an additional soffit air source.
The air is going to naturally want to rise to the cupola but giving it more from under the porch should help the flow. If it retards the flow from the gable ends instead, you could cover the hole.
Ron

 

[tnmike]

Rick if I were you I would take advantage of this pretty weather and install a vented ridge cap. Get one that is screened for bugs. If you don't I guarantee the red wasps are going to invade your house like you would not believe. The added air flow should help solve the problem you are having. At worst do it in early spring before the bugs hatch out.

Pacceron's suggestions above make sense to me but accomplishing what he suggests would be major. Hindsight suggests gaps in the purlins to allow vertical airflow would have been prudent, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Bottom line. You have done a great job on the house and I am confident you will figure it out.

 

[MotorSeven]

Dang Pacer...nice illustration! I really hope I don't have to do that much "work" but I admit it looks cool.....of course the cupola must be sheathed in copper:thumbsup:

As for the transition to the porch roof, that's how it's done 'round here. I did have some concern with the possibility of ice growing back under it & I guess time will tell. What I really should have done is put a 2' roll of Ice shield behind the transition.....again hindsight.

 

[pacerron]

Dang Pacer...nice illustration! I really hope I don't have to do that much "work" but I admit it looks cool.....of course the cupola must be sheathed in copper:thumbsup:

As for the transition to the porch roof, that's how it's done 'round here. I did have some concern with the possibility of ice growing back under it & I guess time will tell. What I really should have done is put a 2' roll of Ice shield behind the transition.....again hindsight.

Rick,
I hope you don't have to go that far either, or even further by taking all the tin off and putting thermal board between the tin and the purlins.
Time will tell. Mold doesn't grow in frigid weather but next spring.. lookout.

I have a cape cod style house with a 10/12 pitch front roof and dormers. Also a 50 foot long by 12 foot deep front porch with a low pitch like your porch roof. It faces North and the weather comes from the west. I have had snow drifted a couple feet up on the dormer windows and all along that transition point. My shingles start at the front of the porch and go all the way to the ridge so I have no leak problem there but I have had to shovel the snow from in front of the dormer windows to keep it from leaking in at the dormers. Things we never think about until it happens.
Vented ridge caps aren't really adviseable on low pitch roof although they are often used. Yours has enough pitch to probably be ok but it won't do anything except vent the peak between the top purlins on each side. I had the ugly aluminum vent hoods all along the back side of my house until the recent re-roofing. This time we cut the ridge out and used a product that might work for you.
It would fill the voids under your ridge cap but still breathe. Available in different widths. See attached picture.

Gotta go.. I just discovered a Honey Locust thorn has gotten revenge on the front tire of my old 3910 tractor which has tubes.
Honey locust is beautiful wood and it burns good but man those thorns are terrible. I had one go through my boot into my foot a few years ago.
Ron

 

[EddieWalker]

Since the water is coming down through the ceiling, I no longer believe it's a venting problem. If the R panels where not open on the bottom, and at the peaks, then water would be forming under the metal. But with everything that you have to stop water from getting through your ceiling, even if it wasn't vented, their isn't any way that it would get through like it is.

I agree with the others that it's probably your ventless stove. That you are creating moisture in your ceiling, inside your house and the result is the water that is coming through the ceiling once the room cools off.

You did everything right with your roof and I wouldn't touch it.

Eddie

 

[MotorSeven]

Eddie....no water is coming down inside the house at all...not the house ceiling, just outside on the porch transition and yes that would be the porch ceiling.

Pacer, my roof is 10/12 and the porch a 2.5/12.

 

[MotorSeven]

Eddie....no water is coming down inside the house at all...not the house ceiling, just outside on the porch transition and yes that would be the porch ceiling.

Pacer, my roof is 10/12 and the porch a 2.5/12.

 

[pacerron]

Eddie....no water is coming down inside the house at all...not the house ceiling, just outside on the porch transition and yes that would be the porch ceiling.

Pacer, my roof is 10/12 and the porch a 2.5/12.

Rick,
Eddie Walker's statement about you having a ceiling leak and his waffling again on his surmise threw me for a loop as I did not remember you ever mentioning having a ceiling leak. Before opening your last post above I went back to your #1737 post on 11-17-2012 and came forward. I would suggest that as a good idea for everyone that is posting relative to your drip now.
You did not ever say you had a ceiling leak and the pictures of the drips on the porch floors were quite evident.
I noted 955 Lincoln's post #1836 about his uninsulated barn canopy dripping but saw your counter in #1837 that you do have 2" of foam under your porch roofs but no tar paper.
We don't have tar paper in our barns either but the foam is covered on both sides with foil and directly underneath the tin so any sweat does run down the top of the foiled insulation and out into the gutters. No sweat underneath the foam boards inside the barns and they, like your porches, are unheated.
Your solution may be easier than all this stuff everybody has been coming up with if the problem begins at the porch transitions or is sweat under the porch tin.

Have you had any significant rain there since you installed the porch roofs?
I'm beginning to wonder if the drips you saw could have resulted from the open transition on top between your house roof and the porch roofs? Is it caulked or is there a flashing from the house to the porch roof that we can't see in your pictures?
Perhaps moisture off the house roof ran down into the transition and found a path to where the dripping occurred from the underside of your porch roof. Roof leaks have a strange way of dripping
quite a distance away from the source. Commercial flat roof buildings are famous for that.
An easy test would be to squirt a garden hose along your house roof a couple feet up from the transition point for 5-10 minutes from one side to the other. Then wait and see where that water goes or leaks too.
Same for the back porch.
Ron

 

[MotorSeven]

No, not at all, this is not a "leak" this is positively melting condensation on the underside of the living space tin. We have been blessed with a mild winter so far....dry, very little rain. Every day we have a good frost we have the "drip"...no frost - no drip. The first place it can get out is the porch transition. I am kinda glad I did not tar paper the porch, if I had, I would never have seen this drip and might have had a nasty surprise a few years down the road. At least I can deal with it before and mold begins to grow, so in a way things have worked out for the overall good.

We will not see frost conditions again until Wed. Hopefully it will be a hard frost and I can begin recording data.

Heck I'm waffling myself......lot's too ponder:laughing: