Drying out

I've now lived in my house 18 years. The house was built 50 years ago. It needed a lot of work when I moved in, most of which got done in the first few years I lived here. I've uncovered other problems in the last couple years, but that's another story.

When I moved in the bathroom fan made huge amounts of noise and took many minutes to get up to speed. So I avoided using it. As a result I had to have the ceiling replaced 14 years ago. A new fan was installed at the time.

A decade ago I and a nephew removed a partial wall above the edge of the tub. This extended down from the ceiling to near the shower doors and allowed steam make a mess of the ceiling over the tub. We also removed plastic paneling (if I have any future houses I will ask why paneling was installed and what's under it), and installed drywall on the walls and in the ceiling where the partial wall was.

Since then some of the drywall mud has bubbled and mold has grown near the ceiling. I had a guy give me a quote a year ago, but when I called to go ahead with the job he didn't return my messages.

A new home improvement guy was here today, recommended by a person from my church. He spotted the source of the problem quite quickly -- that fan installed 14 years ago was way too small for the job (they don't make them that small anymore) and was not vented correctly. He thinks a "spot" in my roof (where shingles waver a bit) is caused by moisture from that fan. So, a new fan, new drywall in the ceiling -- again -- and a new coat of primer and paint.

Perhaps I should be glad the guy a year ago didn't do the job. He wouldn't have solved the problem. Then again, he charged only a quarter of what the job will cost now.