A site visit, three data loggers for 2–3 weeks and a signed hygrothermal report: the building envelope, the way the home is used, or something else. With numbers, not an opinion. For homes in Veneto, Italy.
Faced with a patch of mould, everyone has their own explanation: the landlord says the tenant never opens the windows, the tenant says the wall is cold, the builder says the insulation has nothing to do with it. Often they are all a little bit right. The survey measures it: how much moisture the home produces compared with what the standard considers normal, and how well the wall «holds up» where the mould is.
One data logger in the room and one outside: the humidity difference between inside and outside, compared with the value that the Italian national annex of UNI EN ISO 13788 assumes for a home like yours. If it is higher, the way the home is used and ventilated plays a part.
One data logger where the mould is: it shows how much colder the surface stays than the room (the surface temperature factor). If it is below what the most critical month requires, the building envelope is involved: a thermal bridge, missing insulation.
Building envelope, use of the home, both, or neither — and then it is liquid water that has to be found. With the uncertainty of the instruments: if the measurement is not enough to decide, the report says so.
About three hours. I look at the mould and the home, ask how you live in it (people, laundry, heating, windows), keep the three loggers together to calibrate them against each other and then place them: in the room, on the wall with the mould, outside.
You live as usual: that is exactly what has to be measured. Then the loggers come back to me (I collect them or you post them, as we agree).
Within 10 working days: the measurements, the charts, the calculation for the critical month, the cause and the remedies, signed. Written in Italian. With it you also get the raw logger data.
The measurement is done when it is cold, roughly from November to March: in mild weather the wall is not put to the test, and the measurement would say nothing.
When mould turns into an argument about the rent: either of you can ask for it, or both together. The measurement is the same, whoever pays for it.
Before signing at the notary, to know whether the stain on the wall is a defect of the house or of the way it was lived in.
Mould in top-floor flats or in corners: the common parts of the building, or the way the flat is used?
After external wall insulation or a renovation: a defect in the work, or a home used as before but now more airtight?
Before an anti-mould paint, external insulation or a ventilation system: knowing the cause costs less than getting the remedy wrong.
Includes the site visit, three data loggers for 2–3 weeks and the signed report. Elsewhere in Italy, more rooms to measure or a whole block of flats: a quote after a phone call. Only in Italy: no work abroad.
€900 for one home in Veneto, plus the 4 % engineers' pension fund contribution and VAT: €1,141.92 in total. It includes the site visit, the three data loggers for 2–3 weeks and the signed report. Elsewhere in Italy, or for a whole block of flats, I send a quote. I do not work outside Italy.
The site visit takes about three hours. Then the data loggers record for 2–3 weeks while you live in the home as usual. The report arrives within 10 working days of the loggers coming back to me.
It is a technical report signed by an engineer registered with the Italian Order of Engineers: it gives the cause of the mould and the remedies, and you can show it to the other party (landlord, tenant, block of flats, building contractor). It says what I measured and what follows from it, even when that proves the client wrong. I do not take part in court cases, either as a party-appointed expert (CTP) or as a court-appointed expert (CTU). The report is written in Italian.
No: it needs cold weather. The measurement is done in the heating season, roughly from November to March. In mild weather the difference between inside and outside is too small and the measurement says nothing about the wall: if that is the case, I tell you before we start.
I write it down. If the wall holds up and the indoor air is not too humid, the mould comes from liquid water (a leak, a burst pipe, rising damp from the ground): the report says so and shows where to look, instead of proposing the wrong remedy.
I am a co-founder of VMC AIR LIFE, and I say so straight away. If the remedy is mechanical ventilation, the report says so with numbers; you can have it installed by anyone you like. The survey is invoiced by my engineering practice and does not commit you to buy anything.
A couple of lines and, if you can, a photo: I will tell you straight away whether the survey is needed and when the measurement can be done. Write in English or Italian.
Write to me → info@marcomarettoingegnere.com