# Please help...dark stains on the outside of my house



## kcollier0618 (Dec 14, 2009)

Ever since our home was re-roofed 1.5 years ago, we are getting these brown stains on the side of the house.  It looks like water drips down the sides of the house, but it is brown.  I can't seem to identify a unifying factor....it is on all sides of the house, not just one or two.  Any ideas?  Thanks.


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## travelover (Dec 14, 2009)

Can you post a picture - sounds like maybe mold or mildew?


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Dec 14, 2009)

I am unclear on the terminology since my building has a flat roof, but it sounds to me like water is getting onto the soffits at the eve, and the water is running over the soffits and dripping out on the house side, carrying the dirt it collects with it.

A few pictures would be best.  Open a free account at a picture hosting site like Photobucket so that you can show us what you're seeing.  Also, some close-ups of how the eves were done would help determine whether the problem is rain water getting into the soffit areas.


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## kcollier0618 (Dec 19, 2009)

Pictures by kcollier0618 - Photobucket
this is the link to the photos of the stains.  Thanks for your help.


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## oldognewtrick (Dec 21, 2009)

My 1st inclination is a moisture problem inside your house. How many people in your family, do you take a lot of showers and do a lot of laundry? Is the dryer properly vented outside? Is the ventilation of your roof properly installed? It doesn't look like a shingle leak to me. A roof leak would be showing up in the ceilings inside also. A leak at the eave would not show up as seen in the photos. Can you show a picture of the attic decking and any vents that are visible from the attic?


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## inspectorD (Dec 21, 2009)

You have condensation issues. But as I looked through your photobucket...I found a virus. So be careful lookin at the pics folks.


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## ae89194 (Dec 28, 2009)

oldog/newtrick said:


> My 1st inclination is a moisture problem inside your house. How many people in your family, do you take a lot of showers and do a lot of laundry? Is the dryer properly vented outside? Is the ventilation of your roof properly installed? It doesn't look like a shingle leak to me. A roof leak would be showing up in the ceilings inside also. A leak at the eave would not show up as seen in the photos. Can you show a picture of the attic decking and any vents that are visible from the attic?



I belive oldog is absolutely correct.  I noticed dark looking water stains under my soffits as well that just showed up recently.  I thought I might have a roof leak, but it seemed somewhat unlikely considering its a fairly new house, less than 10 years, anyway, and the stains were at a few locations.  Recently, I replaced an exhaust fan and when I got up in the attic, I found that both of the 2 exhaust fans had no venting on them whatsoever!  Note: We have owned the home for 3 years now.  I did a little research and found one article that led me to belive that this lack of ventilation was causing the stain.  Then I found this site and between the pics of the original problem and oldog's post, I'm convinced.  I ran some flexible 4" hose tonight to the soffit, but I'm going to call someone to install the actual soffit vents.  I'd rather pay a little extra to make sure I don't end up cutting a joist or something.


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## GBR (Jan 3, 2010)

I would guess it is staining from water-wet black paper. Did the roofer use an inferior paper: http://www.fortifiber.com/pdf/fortifacts/fortifacts_ask_vs_felt.pdf
But a year later?.......
Be safe, Gary


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