George, We added an office for my wife to the side of our Modified 2 Story Home. Our house was originally built in 1995 with the addition completed in 2004. Recently, we discovered we had condensation problems in the roof (dead space between the ceiling and exterior roof). The roof was constructed utilizing Engineered I Beams. These I Beams are basically trapped between the roof's underlayment and the sheetrock in the office. We discoverd the condensation problem when water started dripping out of one of the recess lights during cold weather this fall. Upon further investigation, we concluded that the problem had to do with inadequate venting near the top of the roof on this addition. We have vents in the soffits, but there were no vents at the top of the roof to let the heat out. This week we had 3 roof vents installed at the top of the roof. Vents were put in line with the 3 rows of recess lighting we have in our addition. We are assuming these lights were adding to the condensation problem by generating heat that was getting trapped in the roof. We assume adequate insulation was put into the roof as it was inspected and signed off on during construction. We will soon know whether or not our condensation problem has been addressed. My question to you is that now that we have what we hope will be adequate ventilation (although I have my concerns since we basically have rows of trapped dead space based on each set of I Beams being trapped between sheetrock and the roof underlayment), I noticed that I now have drafts coming in around the recess lights, especially during windy days. Good news, it does appear that air is traveling through the roof via the vents. However, if I am getting drafts into the house during windy days, I assume I am also allowing heat to enter this dead space and potentially causing condensation. Since the recess lighting was added during the contruction, I cannot remove the cans to add additional insulation around them. The decorative trim caps help seal the area somewhat, but I can still feel the drafts inside the cans. Was wondering if I should try and inject the liquid, expandable insulation (stuff in a can) around the perimeter of these cans from inside to try and seal up these passage ways? Or do you have other suggestions to address this problem? Or do I just consider these drafts and potential heat loss normal for my home. My real issue is that I do not want to continue to have any type of condensation problem in my roof as well as I do not want to be wasting enery via heat loss around these cans.
If you need additonal information, please let me know.
Your thoughts and assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Dennis