This report describes two surveys of moisture damage in buildings (mostly residential) in Otago and Southland, 1978-1982. The first survey was a collation of routine enquiries received by BRANZ advisory service during a one-and-a-half-year period. Some 40% of the 87 cases recorded involved severe wintertime roofspace condensation.
The second survey, acting on a diagnosis that related this problem to moist subfloor air migrating to cold roof spaces, was a comparative review of three different remedial measures applied to 10 selected cases.
Although the investigations were carried out in Otago and Southland, the problems encountered are found throughout New Zealand.