It is that time of year in Fort McMurray! No, there is no leak in the roof but there are two reasons why water dripping from your ceiling may be happening.

If you are noticing dripping from the ceiling fan, or possibly other ‘low’ points in the ceiling such as a smoke detector, etc. its due to the accumulation of moisture over the freezing months of winter. When a warm weather shift comes about, then that frozen accumulation begins to thaw and drip, causing a mess and possible damage to ceilings and walls.

We know you may be adamant it is a roof leak or ceiling leak, our builder’s team does inspect regularly, so we can assure you this is not the case.

The good news?! It’s a simple resolve but it does take a few days and the resident DOES have to be diligent.

How does this happen?

This occurs when warm moisture accumulates in areas such as the tin flexi pipe that connects the fan in the bathroom that feeds to the exterior of the home. It freezes during cold temperatures, then melts when the weather warms again or there is a large difference external to the home versus inside the home. This see-saw in weather produces the perfect conditions for this to occur if you are not vigilant and yes, it can damage your townhome. In Fort McMurray, we are very likely to experience this as homes are built to be efficient and experience ongoing extreme weather swings.

Here are a few things you will need to do to avoid damage and minimize the accumulation of moisture in your home. These will minimize or resolve this issue if you do experience it.

  1. During showers, open the bathroom window to allow steam to escape.
  2. If you can leave your bathroom door open, this helps as well as bathrooms are only a small room and that steam is quick to build up.
  3. Run your bathroom fan longer only in mid temperature ranges such as in Spring, Summer and Fall. Before and after you shower or soak in the tub,  but don’t run the fan during a shower or bath. You can also run the fan during the day or at night to help keep air moving, but the unfortunate consequence is that sucking up that steam and moisture only lands it in the flexi pipe, causing a lot of build up that leads to that dripping you may experience. As mentioned above, during a shower or bath, open the bathroom window preferably as that wicks the moisture OUT of the room versus up into the attic to sit.
  4. Turn down your humidity! Right now we know with Winter being dryer than the Sahara Desert, its tempting to turn that up. That’s going to make it rain. No pun intended.
  5. Turn down your temperature a touch. Even a one to two degree dip will make a difference. When its into the double negatives, this has huge effect. Sorry Albertans, the unfortunate truth about our beautiful province includes managing our wild weather fluctuations.
  6. If these things fail, please call us to have a look. We do encourage you to call and ask questions about these efforts and we want to ensure that we do keep an eye on it. We want to be sure that nothing more sinister is going on up there such as an air leak.

We have taken steps to mitigate this is through ensuring that the attics are properly ventilated with the correct number and location of roof vents and soffits. Roof vents draw air out of the attic while soffits bring in air from the outside, allowing the air to circulate. We have invested in upgrades to our initial build over the years, to intervene from a build perspective.

We have seen a major improvement in reduction of that dripping from the ceiling fan, however, it is still subject to user influence.

You may see some of this melting/thawing show up in a few other spots in the home too, again, some subjectivity or variables do influence this as well.

If you need to have a chat with us about concerns you may be experiencing, reach out – no question is not worth asking.