Mould & Damp Guide – Understand causes & keep a ventilation diary | PDF, fillable & Excel

For owners and tenants: how mould develops, typical patterns with a traffic light, ventilating and heating according to guide values of the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), plus an indoor-climate diary, a findings log and a trend chart.

Misted windows, a grey shadow in the corner of the room, a musty smell behind the wardrobe – is it the ventilation or the building? This guide explains in plain language how mould develops and how to recognise typical patterns. With the ventilation and indoor-climate diary you record over a few weeks how warm and humid your rooms are and how you ventilated and heated. That way you can see for yourself whether the values improve, and you have everything together when you talk to your landlord, property management, a tradesperson or a specialist firm.

How the traffic light works

• 🟢 keep an eye on: values drop after ventilating and heating, at most small surface growth – keep observing

• 🟡 clarify cause: growth or damp keeps coming back although you ventilate and heat – have a structural cause checked

• 🔴 call professionals: signs of damp from below or outside, a leak, larger growth or health complaints

What makes this guide different

• ✅ Traffic light and diary: typical patterns with a traffic-light classification, plus the indoor-climate diary in Excel with a trend chart.

• ✅ Guide values with sources: humidity, ventilation and temperature figures come from publications of the German Federal Environment Agency. The sources are listed in the product.

• ✅ Use or building? 11 typical patterns (e.g. cold external wall corner, window reveal, base of the wall, stain on the ceiling) with what they rather point to.

• ✅ Ventilate and heat – the right way: shock and cross ventilation, bathroom and kitchen, bedroom, basement in summer, furniture on external walls, do not turn the heating down too far.

• ✅ Measure instead of guess: how to use a simple thermo-hygrometer and read the values correctly.

• ✅ With safety rules: the guide is not a mould removal manual. It shows: recognise, document, call in professionals. With health complaints: see a doctor. In a rented flat: inform your landlord or property management.

• ✅ Honest about legal matters: who is responsible depends on the individual case. The guide only names where you can get advice (e.g. lawyer, Verbraucherzentrale, Mieterverein, owners' association).

• ✅ Work the way you like: printed with a pen, as a fillable PDF on PC or tablet, or in Excel / Google Sheets with an automatic chart.

What's included (16 A4 pages)

• 📋 Cover with property, period, role and table of contents

• 💧 How mould develops: humidity, temperature, surface, with a table on the cold wall

• 🚦 Typical patterns: use or building? (with traffic light)

• 🪟 Ventilating and heating correctly, guide values of the German Federal Environment Agency

• 🌡️ Using a hygrometer correctly

• ⚠️ Quick check, safety rules, "call in professionals if …", legal matters (general)

• 🏠 Room overview

• 📝 Ventilation & indoor-climate diary: 4 weekly pages in landscape (date, time, room, °C, % RH, shock/cross/tilt, duration, value after ventilating, heating, weather, note)

• 📈 Trend chart to fill in yourself

• 🔍 Findings log with photo no. and findings trend

• ✅ Summary with balance per room and next steps

• 📚 Sources & notes

Delivery (instant download, ZIP)

• Mould_Damp_Guide_Print.pdf: for printing

• Mould_Damp_Guide_Fillable.pdf: with form fields and tick boxes for PC or tablet

• Mould_Damp_Guide.xlsx: spreadsheet with a diary for up to 300 readings, traffic-light marking for high humidity (adjustable thresholds), chart for humidity and temperature (all rooms or one room), findings and evaluation per room (Excel, LibreOffice, Google Sheets)

• Mould_Damp_Guide_DEMO_Example.pdf: completed example with entirely fictitious data

• Quick_Start_Guide.pdf

Requirements: an A4 printer or a PDF app with form support, e.g. the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. For the spreadsheet: Excel, LibreOffice or a free Google account. For the diary you need a thermo-hygrometer (not included). You store photos yourself; in the log you note the photo numbers.

Please note: This is a digital product; nothing is shipped. General information only; it does not replace an expert survey (Gutachten) and is not legal advice. The guide does not determine causes and says nothing about who is responsible. The traffic light and thresholds are a reading aid, not official limit values. A hygrometer measures the room air, not the moisture in the wall. Guide values and legal notes refer to German sources and German law; legal sections are translated by meaning and the German version is authoritative. Licence for personal use only: printing for your own rooms is allowed, passing on and reselling are not. Some preview images show fictitious example data. © 2026 Vorlagen Studio – alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Right of withdrawal: for digital content the right of withdrawal expires early under § 356 Abs. 6 Nr. 2 BGB once the download starts with your express consent and acknowledgement; details in the shop's withdrawal policy (Widerrufsbelehrung).

Hinweis zur Umsatzsteuer: Gemäß § 19 UStG wird keine Umsatzsteuer berechnet (Kleinunternehmerregelung).

(VAT note: In accordance with § 19 UStG (German VAT Act), no VAT is charged – small business regulation.)