attic ventilation; gable fan?

[Mickberger]

Wow; I don't even know where to begin. First, I'm a newbie and don't know much about any of this, so any help is greatly appreciated (and needed relayed at a pretty low level...).

So, we have a moisture problem. A BIG moisture problem. Along the crease of where the wall meets the ceiling, on pretty much most of our exterior walls. Drops of moisture come from the ceiling at times; other times the ceiling is wet along where the insulation is (moving in from the wall, up to a foot at times). Mold grows along the crease. We pulled the insulation back (which was jammed up all the way against the roof) to allow air passage to the the undereave vents because apparently there was no ventilation at all up there. The problem worsened. Now we are adding a gable vent and fixing the bathroom vents that were broken. I got on here to try to figure out what to set the humidistat at and realized that's not the real solution to our problem.

So, what in the world should we do? Replace all the insulation??

[badeyeben]

I will get you started before the pros come.
You are on the right track. You need to get the air to flow. Pull the insulation out as it is wet. It has to be if you were seeing water on the wall and ceiling. Mold will continue to grow as long as it is wet. Leave it out long enough for the wood to dry.
The soffit vents need to be open to the attic. And the attic needs to be open to the outside. Either with gable vents or ridge vent. There are calculatore online to see how much venting you need.
Everything is super wet, it sounds like, so you need to put a fan or dehumidifier in to speed the drying. That is after you remove all wet insulation.
Make sure the bathroom vents are properly vented to outside. Running them will help get the moisture down in the house.
Get a humidity gauge (they are pretty cheap) found in the area of the store with the humidifiers and dehumidifiers. Try to get the moisture to the low side of the comfort range on the gauge before you put the insulation back in.
It will take a few days to see the results I believe but the experts will be along to tell us both the correct things.

[chandler]

No need for the pros, Ben's here!! All good advice. I would forgo the gable vents and invest in soffit vents and a ridge vent. That way you will get full flow of air form the soffits to the top, where the hottest air is.

[dennism]

Attic ventilation is going to be dependant on the design and structure of the house.

Here's a link to some attic/roof ventilation information.

Roof and Attic Ventilation