Damp in just one room: comparing conditions around the home

Give rooms simple identifiers that can be repeated on photographs and notes. Mark the floor level, windows and visible marks on a sketch. This does not require a detailed construction drawing.

Choose a comparison room and record why it was selected. A room of similar floor area may have different external walls or adjoining spaces. Size alone does not establish comparable conditions.

Describe the room’s actual use, not merely its drawing label. Note whether it became a bedroom, office or place for drying laundry. Give an approximate change date if the exact one is unknown.

Distinguish permanent furnishings from recently placed items. Mark large furniture near the affected area on the sketch. Do not move heavy items merely to complete a description of an inaccessible surface.

Identify the heating in both rooms and known differences in its use. If one is intermittently unheated, record that rather than assuming a whole-house schedule. Describe only settings you actually know.

Show what lies above, below and beyond the selected rooms’ walls. A garage, stairwell and loft are different adjacencies. Do not assign temperatures to them without information or measurement.

Collect details of partial alterations: a replaced window, enclosed recess, changed door or insulated wall. Record which documents confirm the scope. Label an occupant’s recollection as an account, not an installation record.

Where PIR was installed, establish its location and documented build-up. Do not assume the neighbouring room received an identical solution. The comparison should reveal construction differences rather than reduce them to one material name.

Photographs from different seasons or readings under different conditions are not a straightforward matched comparison. Keep their timing and context. Do not fill information gaps with values from another room.

Label an area without a visible mark in those terms. This describes the inspected surface, not the condition of concealed layers. Keeping those statements separate limits overinterpretation of the comparison.

Attach focused questions: which differences might matter, and what checks could assess them? Do not expect two room photographs alone to resolve every possible cause.

After consultation, add confirmed findings and keep unresolved points clearly marked. The document can accompany further inspection. Do not change a recorded observation merely because an initial hypothesis proved incorrect.