Renovating the bathroom and found these dark patches in the joists and roof lumber surrounding the old vent pipe. The PVC part is new.
Anything bad here? Anything we need to address?
I’m not a professional and not living in the US.
- Get a Wood Moisture Meter and check everything. If the wood contains more water than it should you have an ongoing problem and there is ongoing microbiological growth.
- Some of the Black / Dark parts look like fungus. (In Swedish “svartmögel” which is directly translated to “black mould”). That shit can cause allergies and worse shit.
All in all: get a professional to check this. I’m Sweden we have “building inspectors” that are experts in leakage and mold that checks this for you.
Hejsan! Jag är amerikan men bodde jag i Sverige några år sedan. Tack så mycket för dina råd. Det kan var lättare i Sverige för sådana saker, tror jag.
It was wet at some point. Assess all possibilities for water infiltration. Sorry, bruh. It’s gonna be a PITA.
I’m guessing this PITA doesn’t come with FALAFELS 😔
Uhh… is it legit to just cut thru beams to put in piping? Over half of those beams are cut thru. I’d ask about that as well. I can’t tell where this is, but if the plumber cut thru load bearing beams to put in plumbing that might be an expensive fix.
No, it’s not. You can drill holes through the center of a joist or rafter but the permitted diameter of the hole depends on the overall width of the board. Notching the edge (or in this case cutting most of the way through it) dramatically weakens the board since the edges bear most of the tension from the load.
That’s signs of a water leak. The flashing around your vent is either non-existent, or is failing.
We had the roof replaced two years ago. I believe they redid all the flashing at that point. So there’s a chance this could be old? If the leak is resolved, which I’ll verify, do we have to do anything to the wood or are we good?
They probably fucked up the flashing. Roofers and siders fuck up all the time. If it’s truly an old leak that’s been fixed, you have nothing to worry about. Go up there and observe during the next strong rain. Edit: grab a house key or a screwdriver, stick into the wood. Does it penetrate really easy? Then you’re fucked. Else you’re fine, as long as the leak isn’t active.
