I love your show on CFRA! I had a major ice dam on my roof last year. There was water damage on my walls inside my house (upstairs). The house is five years old. The contractor who fixed it, said that the insulation was packed into the eves - causing the damage. I went up there today to clear it out. The builder used styrofoam vents between each truss that leads to the eves. I could clearly see light in each one, and no insulation was between the sheathing and styrofoam vent. The roof vents also appear to be clear. Am I missing something? One other observation I had was that a 4" black ABS pipe vents into the middle of the attic. It just pokes out of the blown-in insulation. Is this a plumbing vent? Is it OK to vent into an attic?
Answer:
You're missing an honest contractor and that's it! The ABS pipe (if it's a plumbing vent and I cannot think of what else it could be) must (by law) be vented to the outside. It has to go up through the roof and vent all sewer gasses to the outside.