Module 5 · Conducting a Damp Inspection
5.3 The Internal Walkthrough, Room by Room
7 min read
The internal inspection has one rule that beginners find genuinely difficult: you are still not diagnosing. You are building a distribution map — which surfaces are affected, which are not, and how they differ. The diagnosis emerges from the pattern, and the pattern only exists if you looked everywhere.
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Follow a consistent internal route so nothing is missed.
- Record observations without attaching explanations to them.
- Build a distribution map including unaffected areas.
- Inspect the rooms nobody has complained about.
Key terms
- Distribution
- Which surfaces are affected and which are not — the pattern that identifies the mechanism.
- Control area
- An unaffected comparable surface, used as the baseline for readings and observations.
- Datum
- Internal floor level, from which all heights are measured and recorded.
- Anchoring
- Letting the first thing you see dominate how you interpret everything that follows.
Free — enrol to continue
Read the rest of Conducting a Damp Inspection
Module 1 is open to everyone. The remaining six modules — building science, each damp mechanism in depth, meters and thermal imaging, the full inspection method, and report writing — are free too. We just ask for an email so you can pick up where you left off, and so we can send your certificate when you finish.