A day-by-day drying log template for water losses: which readings to capture, how to note equipment changes, and what a complete daily entry looks like.
A drying log isn't paperwork you catch up on Friday. It's the daily record that shows a loss actually dried, and it's the first thing anyone reviewing the file will read.
What a complete daily entry contains
- Date, time on site, and technician name
- Outdoor temperature and relative humidity
- Ambient temperature, RH, and GPP for each affected area
- Dehumidifier intake and outlet readings
- Material moisture readings at each numbered monitoring point
- Equipment currently running and any additions or removals
- Notes: occupant access issues, containment condition, anything unusual
Day one looks different
The first entry sets the baseline: initial conditions before equipment, the dry standard from an unaffected area of the same material, and the initial equipment placement. Everything after is a comparison against that entry.
Middle days: same points, same order
Read the same numbered points in the same sequence every visit. That's what turns a pile of readings into a drying curve, and a drying curve is what justifies the equipment days you're billing.
The final entry
Record the readings that show the dry goal was met, note equipment removal, and photograph the areas in their final state. Pulling equipment before the log supports it is the most expensive shortcut in mitigation.
Common gaps that cause trouble
- A missing day with no note explaining why
- Readings with no dry standard to compare against
- Equipment changes recorded on an invoice but not in the log
- Different monitoring points read on different days
See ANSI/IICRC S500 for the underlying drying criteria. In RestorationWorkflow, the daily entry is a form the tech fills on site for water mitigation jobs, with psychrometric calculators built in. Book a demo to see a full log on a real job.
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