Ben H Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 When I opened the hatch and shined my light up I noticed a sparkly substance all over a rafter board. Once I got in there, I noticed they were on all 4 "corner" rafters only (hipped roof). It was all gold and sparkley. Kinda like disco. It appears to be tiny dried sap balls. But why would it ONLY be on the 4 corner boards and the not the entire attic? Is this something to be conserned about? Click to Enlarge 33.87 KB Click to Enlarge 38.68 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 It is just sap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 Yep, sap. It's on the corners because those are probably old growth Douglas Fir. When I was framing, we'd always use doug fir for the hips; it's stronger and we could get it in longer lengths (usually necessary for hip rafters). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben H Posted February 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 Thats what I thought, but I wanted to get a second set of eyes. Thanks guys! The house was built in 02. I didn't think any old growth stuff was still around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 Well, in '02 it might not be old growth......it's probably fir, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Morrison Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 Definitely not old growth, but it does look like fir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbinspect Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 When I see this, I do always look around to make certain it isn't the result of a poorly ventilated and excessivley hot attic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 That's just a bit of pitch. A lot of pitch can be pretty impressive. We see this in the older places, 100% old growth Df. This pic from last week, looks like drops have been falling on the new insulation. Click to Enlarge 52.11 KB The soffits were sealed up with stucco on these old houses. They probably should have cut new soffit vents before adding the insulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 Yeah, The grain and coloring says that the hip rafters are definitely DF. We see a lot of that around here where there's a ton of DF in the older houses. OT - OF!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 That's just a bit of pitch. A lot of pitch can be pretty impressive. We see this in the older places, 100% old growth Df. This pic from last week, looks like drops have been falling on the new insulation. Click to Enlarge 52.11 KB The soffits were sealed up with stucco on these old houses. They probably should have cut new soffit vents before adding the insulation. True enough. There's a ton of places in the close in 'burbs that were all built with the old growth DF; I've seen literal "icicles" of pitch coming out of some of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Around here most of the fir we see is Hem Fir. Any Doug Fir is almost always refered to as green, meaning air dried, which would certainly explain the pitch. Lots less prevalent in kiln dried wood. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Fabry Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Hem fir is a lumber designation that means the lumber is from the hemlock family or fir family; douglas fir is a species. If I'm hard to understand it's because I have little phylum in my throat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Yeah but...there won't be any douglas fir in a batch of hem fir here. There are plenty of hemlocks and smaller firs here that will be in the mix, but doug fir has to be shipped here from the West, and as such there is a premium for it above and beyond the premium for hem fir, if you can find it at all. Because your a wordy guy and I thought you'd like to know, I think you might have phloem in your throat. If that's the case just swallow, 'cause it's xylem up and phloem down. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob White Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Does jumping from plant kingdom scientific nomenclature to plant anatomy constitute thread drift? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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