Thread: Drywall Ghosting Phonomenon

These pics were sent to me by my client. I have heard of this but never saw this before. Is this ghosting, caused by brownian motion? Temperature of the studs is lower and attracks soot. She said she burns alot of candles, ALOT! I go on Friday, what do you think? Thanks

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Yep, you pegged it. Seems that I remember an article at Building Science Corp. explaining this. Check this out.
BSD-150: Black Stains on Carpets and Ghosting of Framing — Building Science Information

Jim, thanks for the fast response. That is a great article.

Recently saw pretty much the same thing, but the blackening was more pronounced. The worst was on the upper portions of the interior walls that were common with the attic. The insulation in those areas was failing with large gaps which exactly coincided with the black residue. The homeowner admitted that they closed this room every night and burned candles. In fact the bedroom door was sealed with weatherstripping to prevent any airflow. Apparently the kids in the house were complaining about the incense that was also being burned!! There was also bathroom inside this space. As it was winter here in Florida, there was no air circulation going on inside this space. Cool attic on the back of the drywall combined with warm humid soot filled air inside the room resulted in just what you see! Homeowner was in a bit of denial about the whole candle thing so I'm not sure the problem was going away. The issue only showed up when we got into the season where no heating or air conditioning was being used.

Ever seen it on the exterior ?? Two other houses on the row showed the same pattern, but only on the rear.

What is it with people and candles (usually women, by the way)? A former neighbor next door to our place in Colorado often had candles burning in multiple rooms of her fancy log home. She said she "liked the effect". Shortly after we moved from the subdivision, the former owner of the house relayed in a Christmas card note how the place almost burned to the ground one night, with more than $200k in damage.

Wonder how she liked that effect?

Originally Posted by Bob Murphy

Ever seen it on the exterior ?? Two other houses on the row showed the same pattern, but only on the rear.

Soot outside can be from highway pollutants, like diesel smoke.

Scented candles are the worst offenders inside. Also, kids are inhaling that soot into their lungs. The other polluter is those aromatic plug-ins everybody gets to hide the stink of their dirty houses.