Dark Plywood In Attic

While the plywood.

Dark plywood in attic.

In many cases the continued wetting of the sheathing will cause it to rot but that may take several years or decades depending on the attic ventilation. If the wood is soft if it s easily imprinted when you push on it it s probably rotten. This can be caused by the action of fungal growth and molds and the affect they have on the tannins in the wood. If the dark surface of the wood smudges it could be mold.

The other two possibilities for the stains. The following picture is of a long standing moisture condition in an attic where much of the roof sheathing has turned black. If your attic joists won t bear the weight necessary to finish out a living space but the engineer cleared them to support floor decking for light storage you can install inch plywood or. Beneath the fuzzy growth areas of staining can be observed as well.

There is also a small risk that comes with applying the mold protective sealant in that the sealant can trap moisture in the plywood which will cause it to decompose and decay. This latter phenomenon occurs when the house is too humid and the warm moist air seeps into the attic where it condenses and freezes on cold attic areas. After several years of this there may be. Below is an image of heavy 3 dimensional mold growth on the sheathing.

In old houses you ll usually see some spots that are stained dark or black where there was a roof leak at some point in time which was repaired but the stain remains. Learn the real causes of mold growth on attic roof sheathing and what you can do to remove it for good. The black attic mold shown here confirms that this attic had a serious venting and moisture problem including moisture from sources lower in the building. The dark discoloration will remain long after the mold has stopped growing.

In this photo of very dark mold in an attic in a wet attic mold which we found to be brown in the microscope looked black on the plywood.