Thread: attic mystery

In one corner of this 50+ year old attic I found these strips of cloth nailed to rafters and hanging above empty roofing cement containers.
Conventional comp shingle roofing in decent condition with no evidence of leaks.
Anyone know or want to guess what's going on here?

Similar Threads:

• Hi/Low vents terminate in the attic?!
• Moisture mystery
• Short Attic Ladder
• Protection of wiring in the attic
• MYSTERY FIRE KILLS WOMAN - NW Evening Mail

WTF?

Looks like some sort of moisture containment/drip into device.

Or perhaps the buckets were filled with an insecticide of some type and the cloth 'wicked' it into the attic space???


Yeah, that smells like I pulled it straight outta my A$$...


Baffled...

Originally Posted by John Arnold

In one corner of this 50+ year old attic I found these strips of cloth nailed to rafters and hanging above empty roofing cement containers.
Conventional comp shingle roofing in decent condition with no evidence of leaks.
Anyone know or want to guess what's going on here?

Were they bug strips and the bugs fall into the cans?

Originally Posted by A.D. Miller

WTF?

What a coincidence. That's what I said!

Originally Posted by Mike Richart

Were they bug strips and the bugs fall into the cans?

Great minds think alike. I considered that also.

Originally Posted by Mike Gault

...Or perhaps the buckets were filled with an insecticide of some type and the cloth 'wicked' it into the attic space???...

The strips stopped at the tops of the buckets, or above, so I don't think so.

Originally Posted by Mike Gault

Looks like some sort of moisture containment/drip into device.

Guy goes up into the attic, sees where the water is leaking through his roof, says to himself "it's raining outside and leaking again, I can't figure out where the leak is, besides, I can't fix it in the rain anyway, so I'll let it drip into some buckets."

Later on, he replaces the roof and forgets all about those buckets, leaving a "Conventional comp shingle roofing in decent condition with no evidence of leaks."

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Guy goes up into the attic, sees where the water is leaking through his roof, says to himself "it's raining outside and leaking again, I can't figure out where the leak is, besides, I can't fix it in the rain anyway, so I'll let it drip into some buckets."

Later on, he replaces the roof and forgets all about those buckets, leaving a "Conventional comp shingle roofing in decent condition with no evidence of leaks."

JP: To continue your story: then a big fat nasty rat from above Ted's or Ron's client's water heater closet gets excited, hops off of his nest on the screened end of the combustion air duct, runs like hell through the attic hitting both cans one after another. The cans fall through the drywall ceiling - windowmakers.

Originally Posted by A.D. Miller

The cans fall through the drywall ceiling

That was my first thought about the right can in that photo, it is precariously balanced on that 1-1/2" top of the ceiling joist. The left can might stay in place (well positioned on that board and mostly full of water) and knock that rat out cold, saving it from running into the other can which would easily tip over ...

'Course, now it that rat came from the other direction and hit the right can first ...

Maybe one of those INS buses drove up and the boys headed home to get their green cards. I'm sure they'll be back soon.

rick

Did I miss something or did no one notice that they are roofing cement cans. I tiny bit of a past leak problem. Ten gallns to seal the leaks. He must have mopoped half that side of the roof.

One would think that they might remember that they have a bucket of water still sitting in their attic. I guess you don't have to wory about the can rotting out and leaking the water into the attic/house.

Looks like a homemade mouse/rodent/pest/bug/vermin trap. Was there anything in the buckets John?

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

Looks like a homemade mouse/rodent/pest/bug/vermin trap. Was there anything in the buckets John?

I was afraid to look!

But then I overcame my fear of the unknown and took a peek. Nope. Nuthin' but old roofing cement.

Did I mention the seller is the PA Dept. of Corrections?

Originally Posted by Ted Menelly

Did I miss something or did no one notice that they are roofing cement cans.

Originally Posted by John Arnold

... empty roofing cement containers.

Missed.

Originally Posted by John Arnold

I was afraid to look!

But then I overcame my fear of the unknown and took a peek. Nope. Nuthin' but old roofing cement.

Did I mention the seller is the PA Dept. of Corrections?

Maybe they were experimenting with a new deterrent for criminals. Hang on the strips as long as you can and when you loose grip, into the tar bucket. Was there by any chance a feather-filled pillow up there?

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

Maybe they were experimenting with a new deterrent for criminals. Hang on the strips as long as you can and when you loose grip, into the tar bucket. Was there by any chance a feather-filled pillow up there?

OOOps

guilty again for scanning and not reading.

Let get that New electrical guy in on this one...


Best

Ron

Does that attic insulation look like its really been wet / damp in the past. It does look like some water staining is present on the plywood decking.

rick

Originally Posted by Rick Hurst

Does that attic insulation look like its really been wet / damp in the past. It does look like some water staining is present on the plywood decking.

rick

The insulation was uniformly thin all over. Just OLD I think.
Ditto with the decking, which is 1X boards, not plywood. Probably original decking. I'd be shocked if it didn't have any staining.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Guy goes up into the attic, sees where the water is leaking through his roof, says to himself "it's raining outside and leaking again, I can't figure out where the leak is, besides, I can't fix it in the rain anyway, so I'll let it drip into some buckets."

Later on, he replaces the roof and forgets all about those buckets, leaving a "Conventional comp shingle roofing in decent condition with no evidence of leaks."

Seen this or similiar a number of times. Catch basins for leaking roof. The cloth just acts as a wick and directs the water into the bucket. Owner didn't remove the bucket when the roof was replaced, the water eventually evaporated.

Looks like a water catcher to me. I have seen similar ones and they use the cloth to catch the rafter runs. Here is a recent one(6 months) that was almost full. I told the buyer as long as evaporation was quicker than the rainfall no problem.