If the insulation is wet, you have a very serious problem. Do you have a vapor barrier under the insulation? It is necessary to keep house moisture from migrating into the attic when the attic is cool or cold. Are you sure the vent runs are sealed and run all the way to an exterior vent? Given the wide spread nature of the moisture and the "wet" feeling, I lean towards needing much more ventilation at the level of the insulation and a search for roof leaks. Without seeing your attic, it sounds like all the air movement is up at the roof peak. You need soffit vents so air circulates throughout the attic. When you reinsulate, check the floor of the attic for leaks from the rooms below. Check the seal of any access hatches.

Another, though remote, possiblity is past roof leaks since repaired. The soaked insulation was never replaced and is very slowly drying.

The insulation seems to be damp on the top, primarily under the plywood boards.
The insulation sits ontop of the ceiling and has no paper backing.

I do have a moisture problem in the crawlspace, which are working on fixing this spring with a sump system.

We are also going to add some more vents below the louver vents on the west/east end of the house (this should be inline with your suggestion, too). There is no easy way to add soffit vents because of how the house was made.

The area in the attic is approximately 60 ft by 30 ft.

The bathroom vents are sealed and all run to the roof and exit out the roof.

I appreciate your time and if you have other suggestions on how to move more air around, please let me know.

Also - if we get the crawlspace dried out this spring, and the insulation finally dries out, do we need to replace the insulation or just put new on top?

Thanks again.

The insulation may be damp on top if the moisture migrated from the house to the attic and then condensed when it reached the cold attic air.

I would a) throw out the old insulation, since it may be moldy, etc. and lost its insulating structure.
b) lay one layer of fiberglass insulation, backing down or blown in with a layer of plastic film for a vapor barrier.
c) if using fiberglass, add a second layer across the first layer to cover gaps.

Others with experience with damp insulation may have other advise. You definitely need the vapor barrier.

Thanks for the info on the insulation.
I'd like to use the roll kind of insulation. Part of the attic has plywood floor. We used spacers to provide some air movement between the floor and insulation. I've heard I need 18inch in the attic. How do you get that much, when there is 6-8 inches between the insulation and plywood?

To get the vapor barrier, I need to place the insulation with the paper backing against the top of the ceiling?

What R-factor do I need?

I appreciate your assistance!

For figuring what you should have go to: http://www.ornl.gov/roofs%2bwalls/insulation/ins_16.html
(all one line without any spaces)

Insulation levels are based on age of house, type of heat and zip code. My new house in West Virginia calls for R-49 in the ceiling.

I don't know other materials but fiberglass batts are R-3ish per inch of thickness. I have a layer of kraft faced R-30 (10 inch) layed along the joists, face down against the ceiling. On top I have unfaced R-19 (6 inch) layed across the joists to close gaps in the first layer.

Other, higher R materials would need thinner layers. Just make sure you have a vapor barrier and you close gaps as much as possible.

The website in my last post didn't display quite right. The last part should be:
"ins(underscore)16.html"