For chimneys and stove flues use sheet metal collar and caulk to seal gaps around them.
Dirt in attic in old house.
Cash hidden in ohio house walls becomes contractor s nightmare.
What causes that old house smell three things that musty old houses have in common.
Cracks can start to appear around the areas that have been affected by the shift of the soil.
Sounds like you do not but suggesting.
Therefore it s not safe to assume that your house is settling simply because there are cracks in the foundation.
However cracks in the foundation could appear for a number of reasons including seasonal climate changes.
You will need to excavate some miner trenches say 3 deep to be back filled with clean stone the size of i was going to say robins eggs or a little bigger.
Over years this can create a fair amount of dirt dust.
See below for a shopping list and tools.
If there are holes in the ceiling of the second floor then air can be flowing up into the attic.
It is quite likely that if your house is sitting over a high water table that you can excavate a section of the old dirt floor and install a sump pump hole with sump pump.
Little ventilation high humidity and darkness says bill carroll jr an adjunct professor of chemistry.
If you have an automatic fan to ventilate the attic this could be pulling dirty air into the attic through the soffits.
Check gaps from light fixtures pipes wiring and heating cooling ducts.
In contrast a house built using roof trusses will have an attic space full of angled web framing that connects the top chords analogous to rafters to the bottom chord which frames the ceiling beneath the attic space.
Use weather stripping around the edges of your attic door for an attic door seal warm air can also leave through your attic ventilation.