'Attic rain' turns Calgary homeowner's dream to nightmare
A Calgary woman says her dream home has turned into a nightmare because of a phenomenon known as "attic rain."
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Soon after Debby Montagni moved into her new southeast Calgary townhouse she started hearing dripping in the attic.
Her builder told her it was "attic rain": moisture that builds up in the attic, freezes and then melts in warmer weather.
"Ten days later after I moved in I started hearing little droplets," she said.
“A couple of really bad times, the water has come through the window well and keeps dripping and I have to get up every hour on the hour, changing towels, making sure that there's no more drips that I haven't caught.”
Derek Squirell, who speaks for Jayman — the company that built Montagni's home, says they are working to fix the problem.
Squirell says attic rain is a growing problem because houses are now built so airtight that they don't dry out when there’s a buildup of moisture.
“It used to be years and years ago houses were drafty ... and they dried themselves out very well."
With modern building methods, extra steps have to be taken to make sure attic rain doesn’t develop, he says.
“We're actually looking carefully at all of the attics before we even sell the house, using our thermal camera to go in and make sure that the tradespeople have done the job right,” he said.
