Module 6 · Reporting Skills
6.1 How to Structure a Damp Report
8 min read
A damp report is an argument with evidence attached, and its structure is what makes the argument checkable. Get the order right and a reader can follow you from observation to conclusion and verify each step. Get it wrong — mixing findings with opinions, conclusions with recommendations — and even a correct diagnosis reads as an assertion.
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Lay out a damp report in a defensible section order.
- Keep observation, measurement, interpretation and recommendation separate.
- Write an executive summary that serves a reader who will read nothing else.
- Build a chain of evidence a reader can follow and check.
Key terms
- Executive summary
- A short high-level account of the main findings and probable causes, for the reader who reads only this.
- Scope of inspection
- A statement of what was inspected, by what means, and what was not.
- Observation
- A verifiable record of what was there, containing no explanation.
- Interpretation
- The explanation built from observations and measurements, stated as an interpretation.
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Read the rest of Reporting Skills
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.