Moisture Surveys and Moisture Mapping

Water does not stay where it escapes. It soaks along a screed, wicks up plaster, runs under a floor finish and sits in insulation for weeks after the surface looks dry. A stain shows where water reached the surface, not where it is. A moisture survey uses a moisture meter at regular points across the affected floors and walls to record a reading at each one. Plotted together those readings form a map, with the wettest readings clustered around the source and falling away in the direction the water has moved. That map is often the quickest guide to where the leak is.

We take readings on a grid across the room and into the neighbouring rooms until the readings return to a normal, dry level, so the edge of the affected area is known rather than assumed. On walls we read at several heights to show how far water has risen. On floors we read the finish and, where there is access, the screed or boards beneath it. The meter tells wet from dry at each point, and the thermal camera shows the same pattern as a temperature difference. A test strip on any free water says whether it is mains, heating or waste. Together they give a consistent picture.

The result goes into the report as a plan with the readings marked, alongside the thermal images. For an insurer that is the extent of the water damage in black and white: which rooms, which surfaces, and how far. It is the basis for the drying and making-good part of an escape of water claim, and it separates damage caused by the leak from damage that was already there. For a homeowner it also answers a simpler question, whether the floor really is dry yet, because a second survey after drying shows the readings back to normal or not.