Thread: White Powder in Attic

Found this in the attic. Based on it being on top of several items up there it seems like its either new or getting worse. Not sure what it is but it is at least loose enough to fall from above. Any ideas? Harmful to health?

Sorry about the link to photobucket but my pictures were too big and the detail is important.

Pictures by jabarth0 - Photobucket

The photo of one whole side of the room is on the other "wall" opposite of the close-ups. Any ideas on what it is? Thanks for your help!


J

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That's pretty weird. Looks crystalline. If it wasn't on wood, I would have said efflorescence. Could the roof sheathing have been used as concrete form boards? Wild guess and probably not right.

Joseph, you would do us all a huge favour by narrowing down your location. Stating the The USofA is nice,,,but, to assist in identifying the whites stuff location is gonna help.
Maybe its salt and you live on the coast and that roof gets real wet...Alaska and its snow, was it snowing

It seems to be moisture related or at least it follows the pattern of the moisture stains.
What is the roofing, and what kind of shape is the roof in?
It's an older house. Has there been a recent treatment for moss growth, maybe?

The house is in central northern PA, and like many of the other buildings here, is very old. I'm guessing 1940's based on a lot of the fixtures. Judging by the shape of the rest of the outside of the house, the roof is likely in not very good condition at all, especially the structuring underneath the shingles. Knowing the owner, I also heavily doubt that ANY treatments have been made to the house, especially the attic, which has been neglected.

If it helps, it rains a LOT here but beyond the moisture stains it doesn't seem like any actual leaks based on the condition of the flooring. What's odd to me is that it's built up in some areas to the point where it's falling out of the cracks but in others its nowhere to be seen; makes we wonder what the source really is.

I am not aware of any mold or mould byproduct that ends up looking like powdered lime.

I will go out on a limb and say it is not mold.

Back to you Joseph,

Please send pic, a nice one, of the roof....thanks in advance



any other exterior shots would help as well


steve

It was noted that it seemed to follow the pattern of water in the area that had the water stain. However, is it possible that it is salt that someone tossed on the roof to melt ice? What didn’t run off with the melting ice would be hygroscopic, alternately absorbing moisture from the air and baking dry from the hot roof, slowly working it’s way through any cranny. This would leave a white, somewhat crystalline powder.
You could carefully put a little in water and see if it readily dissolves. If not, it’s not just salt. If it does, it proves nothing, but if not it disproves the salt idea.
It could (should) be chemically tested. In the meantime, treat it with respect, and don’t touch it with your bare hands, or stir it up and breath it.

WAG: gyp rock sandwich over/under board sheathing and below metal roofing, unventillated. Another WAG, carpenter bee or other insecticide/pesticide powder puffed in application residue... example rodenticide - ZP tracking powder having contact with water leaves behind zinc oxide (after phos. gas released).What type of roofing material was visable?

Out of town, be back in a few days to test those ideas out!

Weird and difficult to identify. A fellow inspector sent me these photos and I'm wondering if it's not the same condition...

Any ideas?

G