[schwilly]

So, I went back to finish my degree after all these years, finally had the money and time. I'm renting what you could call a sort of shotgun house. Tiny place, single story, no basement, and a small attic.

Due to these circumstances I'm just running a thousand watts in an insulated 4x4 box I built in a small bedroom while I'm here. Yesterday for the first time in about two months I pulled down the ladder door to get some supplies out of the attic. It was horrific. White and greenish turquoise mold everywhere. Growing on plywood and studs alike.

Now, I do not exhaust into the attic, which is probably what you immediately thought. This is baffling so I'll explain it but you might have to read a bit.

When I moved in december 2010 I immediately got the box up and running. I have a 392 cfm fan pulling air through a can 50 carbon filter inside the box, pushing it through a cooled hood, and then out of the box and through ducting to dump the hot air in the living area. This is plenty of flow to keep things cool when the weather is 65f or below.

I just did a single cycle last winter and only needed to run AC in the bedroom for the last few weeks. Had no issues with mold or anything.

This winter, it finally cools down and I get things going. I live in a humid part of the US, and winter never really arrived. Long story short humidity was higher than I liked but I have no dehuey here. So I decide to pull cold air through ducting from the small attic into the box with another fan which is hooked up to a temp controller set to come on when it gets above 79 in the box. Things work well and humidity in the box comes down.

The other advantage of this is I can keep it nice and toasty in my tiny place with just the light while the box stays cool, with no ac. But even so, it's only about 10 degrees warmer than last year in my living area.

The attic has both soffit and peak ridge vents so there is no way I'm causing hot air to somehow be pulled into the attic from the living area via vacuum from my cold air intake.

The attic is just damp as hell. Every roofing nail sticking down has condensation on it. Like I said this winter is mild and it's more humid than last year but I'm still at a loss to explain why it would be that damp. It is reasonably well insulated between the attic and living space but no insulation on the roof.

I have a 10 week strain at 7 weeks in the box. All incoming air to the box goes through a furnace filter. Enough to stop dust and bugs but I imagine mold spores pass right through. So, I am basically spraying mass amounts of spores from the attic onto my plants. I imagine I should know very soon if this mold likes buds. :sadworryface:

The other more pressing issue. For the past month or two I have not felt right. Tired as hell, feeling depressed, sleeping way too much, headaches, etc. I even took a break from herb just to change things up in an attempt to straighten myself out. It's been almost two weeks. If anything life is worse, as you might imagine. :wink: So I'm scared that I've essentially been pumping poisoned air into my place.

Of course I'm no longer dumping attic air into my place, hope I start to feel better soon. I am just so confused as to what could be causing the dampness up there. It's only about 75 during the day in my place with the light on, maybe 60 at night. I just don't see how pulling cold dry outside air into the attic via vacuum would cause dampness like that.

Any responses greatly appreciated, thanks for reading all that.

Originally Posted by schwilly

The attic has both soffit and peak ridge vents so there is no way I'm causing hot air to somehow be pulled into the attic from the living area via vacuum from my cold air intake.

First think I'd do is set aside any assumptions you have about what you think you know, because you're obviously missing something in a big way.

HVAC guys make a decent living dealing with airflow because it can get kinda complicated, ya know?

[schwilly]

Yea, you're right man.

I guess I should have said it seems unlikely that I would be pulling any kind of real vacuum up there with what is likely around 10 square feet of open vent to the outside.

edit: I guess I should also add that the fan pulling the cold air only runs 200 cfm when it's on.

[schwilly]

There are times when the temp in my living area hits around 80. I'm wondering if maybe the temperature differential is just too much for the attic ventilation to handle when it's cold out. I do enjoy having the option to wear nothing but underwear in my place but I guess I'll try to cool it down in here and see if it helps.

The pull down door to the attic has a good seal but I guess I'll try to make it completely airtight today.

I'm going to feel terrible if the inspector condemns this place when he checks it after I move out in spring.

I don't know what kind of temps that blue/green mold requires to thrive, but it occurs to me that it must be warmer than a normal vented, unheated attic would be.

If you get one of those low-cost "Accu-Rite" digital clocks with the remote temperature sensor (Wal-Mart), you could put a remote in the attic and see how your temps track over time. They'll store minimum and maximum temps over a 24 hour period, with a reset at midnight, so you can see what kind of swing you're getting. That's how I keep track of temps in my cab, and dial in the heat and ventilation.

[Synthettek]

A Quick, immediate cheap aid is to buy a dehumidifier with a hose to drain so you don't have to empty it all the time.

And the mold you describe may very well be a Trichoderma mold with others as well. The mean green is the trich.

[schwilly]

Originally Posted by Synthettek

A Quick, immediate cheap aid is to buy a dehumidifier with a hose to drain so you don't have to empty it all the time.

And the mold you describe may very well be a Trichoderma mold with others as well. The mean green is the trich.

Yea. I have a dehumidifier but it's in storage with a lot of my other stuff while I'm back at school. Too long of a drive and hassle to get it before I move. I never imagined I'd need it running only in the winter here as low humidity is usually the problem. This winter is fucked. I looked up trichoderma and luckily it doesn't sound too unhealthy for me or plants. Though there looks to be more than one variety up there.

thanks

Originally Posted by HighPlainsToker

I don't know what kind of temps that blue/green mold requires to thrive, but it occurs to me that it must be warmer than a normal vented, unheated attic would be.

If you get one of those low-cost "Accu-Rite" digital clocks with the remote temperature sensor (Wal-Mart), you could put a remote in the attic and see how your temps track over time. They'll store minimum and maximum temps over a 24 hour period, with a reset at midnight, so you can see what kind of swing you're getting. That's how I keep track of temps in my cab, and dial in the heat and ventilation.

You're right. I was surprised to see mold up there as I figured it would be pretty much outside temps.

I do have a bunch of temp/hygro sensors here, I just finally found the box and dug one out 20 minutes ago and threw it up there. I'll check it in an hour or so once everything up there equalizes from me opening the door and see what it tells me. The ones I get are all manual reset.

thanks

[trichrider]

stale air bro. some air circulation up there would do wonders.

i'm certain that mold can handle cooler temps than you would imagine.
i find mold growing in cool stagnent air, like the inside of parked covered cars, boats...

an ozone generator up there would destroy the mold...good luck!

[schwilly]

well, it's 40 degrees up there, compared to 34 outside. so i don't think the issue us warm air from my living space making it up there.

but, 75% humidity. 45% humidity in my place.

Originally Posted by trichrider

stale air bro. some air circulation up there would do wonders.

i'm certain that mold can handle cooler temps than you would imagine.
i find mold growing in cool stagnent air, like the inside of parked covered cars, boats...

an ozone generator up there would destroy the mold...good luck!

makes sense.

it's a really small space, at the peak of the roof it's only 5 feet tall and then slanting down. last year it was mostly empty up there. this year it is stacked with shit. there is well over a thousand pounds of coco, soil, ewc, and dry amendments up there. i don't know if all that moist organic material is contributing or not.

i guess i just have to attribute it to lack air flow and the ridiculously humid winter we're having.

and me feeling like crap recently could also come down to stress from family bs and hitting the bottle too often

grosses me out thinking of the giant petri dish above me though.

thanks

[Midnight]

This would be a good place to start. https://inspectapedia.com/sickhouse/A...old_Causes.htm