Weather Exposure Planning Questions Checklist

Ask which stages of the work leave the property open, and write down exactly what is exposed at each of them rather than assuming it is one brief event.

Owners usually picture a single afternoon with a roof off, when the exposed period is often spread across several separate stages.

Note whether each opening is in a roof, a wall, a floor or an existing opening being enlarged, because each behaves very differently in rain.

A roof opening collects and channels water, while a wall opening mostly admits it in wind, and the protection needed differs accordingly.

Ask what the working method is if the weather turns while an area is open, and who takes the decision to stop and close things up.

A named decision-maker prevents the situation where everyone assumes somebody else is watching the sky.

Record which rooms sit directly under or behind each exposed area, and write down what is currently in them.

The rooms below an opening are the ones that suffer first, and they are usually still full of belongings.

Ask whether any exposed stage could be avoided altogether by sequencing the work differently, and record the answer you are given.

Sequencing sometimes removes exposure entirely, but only if the question is asked before the method is settled.

Note that exposure usually continues beyond the working part of the day, and ask how an open area is left when nobody is at the property.

Ask whoever is carrying out the work how an open area is left unattended. Nothing here judges whether any temporary arrangement is adequate.

Ask what temporary covering is proposed for each open area and what it is fixed to, and write the answer down alongside the stage it belongs to.

Whether a temporary covering is suitable is a matter for qualified professionals. Record what is proposed rather than judging it yourself.

Ask who checks the covering, and what happens if it lifts, tears or fills with water while nobody is at the property.

Coverings fail between visits rather than during them, so the checking arrangement matters more than the covering itself.

Note that water finds the lowest point of any sheet, and ask where the covering is intended to shed water to once it gets there.

A sheet that drains onto a flat roof, a light well or a doorway simply moves the problem somewhere less visible.

Record whether the covering would discharge onto a neighbour's land, a shared path, a drive or anywhere people walk.

Water discharging beyond your boundary affects others. Raise it with a qualified professional and with the neighbour before the arrangement is relied on.

Ask whether the existing gutters and downpipes still work while the covering is up, or whether any of them have been disconnected.

Disconnected rainwater goods are a very common cause of water appearing somewhere nobody was watching.

Note who to telephone outside working hours if you can see that something has moved, and check that the number is actually answered.

A contact that only works during the day is no use for the weather that arrives at night.

Walk the rooms below each exposed area and note what would be affected first, including ceilings, light fittings, electrics and stored contents.

Water anywhere near electrical fittings is a matter for a qualified professional. Agree in advance who is called and who isolates anything.

Note which way the floors fall in the rooms below, since that is where water will travel once it reaches floor level.

Water often does its damage well away from where it landed, following a floor fall that nobody had ever noticed.

Record what is stored in the loft, in cupboards and under floors in the affected part of the property.

Hidden storage is where the irreplaceable things live, and it is the last place anyone looks after water gets in.

Move or protect anything irreplaceable well before the exposed stage arrives, rather than on the day it happens.

Moving contents on the day competes with everything else that is happening, and it is the task that gets abandoned.

Ask what would be done immediately if water did enter, and who is responsible for that response rather than assuming it is you.

The first response decides how much damage follows, and it works far better when it was agreed in advance.

Note whether anything below the exposed area belongs to another household, since water rarely respects a boundary between properties.

Where another household could be affected, raise it with the building manager or a qualified adviser before the exposed stage begins.

Note where surface water already collects on the drive or in the garden after heavy rain, and whether that is where material is meant to stand.

Existing puddles show where the ground drains poorly, which is exactly where a stockpile or container should not go.

Ask what happens to open ground if it rains, and where water collecting in any excavation is expected to go.

Open excavations and ground water are matters for qualified professionals. Ask what arrangements are planned rather than assessing them yourself.

Record which routes across the property would turn to mud in wet weather, and ask how material would still be moved across them.

A route that works in dry weather can stop working entirely, and the fallback is rarely thought about until it is needed.

Ask what protection the lawn, paving and internal floors receive specifically when the ground outside is wet rather than dry.

Protection adequate for dry conditions is often useless in wet ones, and the difference is what damages a floor.

Note where mud would be walked into the property, and agree where boots are changed and who keeps that point clean.

Without an agreed changing point, the route through the house takes the wet weather indoors every single time.

Ask whether any existing drainage on the property will be interrupted during the work, and where water would go while it is.

Anything affecting existing drainage must be discussed with a qualified professional and confirmed locally where a public system is involved.

Ask which materials must stay dry before they are used, and where they will be kept if the property has no covered space at all.

Material that must stay dry and has nowhere dry to go is a problem that surfaces on the day of delivery.

Note that some material absorbs water and becomes considerably heavier, which changes where it can reasonably be stacked.

Weight gained from rain is why stored material sometimes ends up somewhere it should never have been placed.

Record what has already been fitted and remains exposed while later stages continue around it.

Completed work left in the open is damaged more often than material, because nobody thinks of it as needing protection.

Ask what protects newly finished work from rain, splashing and run-off from anything above it.

Run-off from a level above is the usual cause of marks on new external finishes, and it is preventable if raised early.

Note whether anything delivered arrives wrapped only for transport rather than for standing outside for any length of time.

Transport wrapping traps water as readily as it keeps it out, and it is routinely mistaken for weather protection.

Ask who is responsible for material damaged by weather while it stands on the property, and record the answer in writing.

Responsibility for weather damage to material and to the works depends on the written agreement and on advice from a qualified adviser.

Ask what happens to scaffold sheeting in strong wind, and who takes the decision to remove or secure it.

Scaffolding, sheeting and temporary structures are for qualified professionals only. Never adjust, tie or remove any part of them yourself.

Note what is stored at height on the property, including material left on a scaffold, a flat roof or a raised platform.

Material stored at height is what causes damage in wind, and it is invisible from the ground until it moves.

Record what stands directly below anything that could be dislodged, such as a car, a greenhouse, a shed, a path or a neighbour's boundary.

If anything vulnerable stands below, raise it with whoever is carrying out the work before an exposed stage begins.

Ask how loose material, offcuts, packaging and sheeting scraps are kept from blowing off the property in windy weather.

Light material blowing off a property is something neighbours tend to raise early, and an agreed arrangement usually deals with it.

Note which trees, fences, aerials or outbuildings near the working area could be affected by wind, and record their existing condition.

Anything already leaning or loose becomes the first casualty and the first thing blamed on the work.

Agree that nobody in the household attempts to deal with anything that has come loose, and that it is reported instead.

Owners climbing ladders to deal with sheeting in wind is a genuinely common event, and agreeing beforehand that nobody does it is what prevents it.

Decide whether the household can remain in the property during the exposed stages, and note which rooms become unusable while they last.

This decision is much easier before the stage begins than in the middle of it, when nowhere else has been arranged.

Ask how heat loss through an open area affects the rest of the property, and whether the heating will work usefully at all meanwhile.

A property open at one point is often impossible to heat anywhere, which is not obvious until it happens.

Note where draughts, dust and rain would reach the rooms still in use, and agree how those rooms are separated from the open area.

Separation that works for dust often does nothing for wind-driven rain, so both need raising.

Record what the household would do if an exposed stage cannot be closed when intended because of the weather.

Weather delays at the exposed stage are the hardest to absorb, and a fallback arrangement removes most of the pressure.

Ask what security arrangements apply while an opening exists, particularly anywhere at ground level or reachable from a flat roof.

Ask whoever is carrying out the work what security arrangements are in place while the property is open. Nothing here judges their adequacy.

Note who else may need to be told that the property is temporarily open, and confirm with a qualified adviser who that should include.

Whether anyone else must be notified while a property stands open is a question for a qualified adviser, not something to assume.