4 Types of Buildings Where Infrared Thermography is Effective

How can a building manager manage the building asset in such a way as to save energy and money?

Infrared thermography is a useful tool for four different types of commercial buildings:

1. Residential
2. Commercial
3. Industrial
4. Institutional

Residential buildings include multi-family dwellings like apartments and condominiums. A condominium facilities manager can make effective and cost-efficient decisions regarding roof replacements and other moisture intrusion issues by using a thermal scans of the roof and building envelope.

Commercial buildings include office buildings, retail stores, and malls. In this case, building managers successfully engage commercial thermographers to determine building integrity, and areas of heat loss. E especially in the case where the buildings are spread out over several acres, many commercial building managers are turning to aerial thermography where large areas can be scanned quickly from above.

Industrial buildings including manufacturing facilities and factories. Apart from the obvious use to make sure the building envelope is functioning as it should, infrared thermography can be used for predictive maintenance of electrical and mechanical systems, and quality assurance within the manufacturing process.

Institutional buildings such as colleges and universities, hospitals, and government buildings are great candidates for infrared thermography. Many these institutions are housed in aging buildings where it might be difficult to ascertain where moisture intrusion or heat loss originate. For example, at one university client of mine, we used infrared thermography to detect a break in steam pipes buried in the ground that provided some of the power for the older section of the university.

Infrared thermography is simply not a one-size fits all solution, but can be used for many applications depending on the building type.

Interested in learning more? Call me at 803-328-2889 and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit our website or follow us on Twitter:  We are proud to offer the very best infrared thermography services in North Carolina and South Carolina!

The ideas for this series of blogs are derived, in part, from Greg Stockton's excellent article Infared (IR) Thermography for Building Managers.