Ice Storms Across the South: Roof Leaks Likely

With heavy rain, ice, occasional snow, cold blowing winds and erratic temperature changes it can only mean that it’s roof leak season. Not much fun!

Let’s face it, a little bit of water can do a lot of damage and a little bit of water over a long period of time can be devastating. I know I often blog about Infrared Scanning and roof leaks, but I am going to get a little more technical over the next few posts. I will concentrate on flat roof systems that are widely used in commercial and industrial construction, how they can leak and how Infrared scanning can help you quickly find the source of the problem.

Flat Roof Covering Systems

There are several systems for covering flat roofs: 

Roll asphalt

Single-ply

Multiple-ply (or built-up roofing)

Modified bitumen

Flat metal roofing

For the purposes of time and space I will only be discussing the three more common methods. Regardless of the roofing system you have, there is one thing that all flat roofing systems have in common: the difficulty they all present when it comes to locating the source of a leak in your roof. Because of the various methods of applying these systems water can travel quite a distance before it actually starts to drip inside your building. Making the problem worse is that the presence of water inside does not necessarily mean that the roof is leaking at all, the source of the moisture may actually be inside the building itself. Air leaking through the roof system can cause temperature variations that may cause excessive condensation to occur, the results can look just like a roof leak.

Complicated, isn’t it? This is why an effective building maintenance program includes infrared roof scans. It is the most accurate and cost effective way to locate the actual source of the roof leak.

If you have an immediate concern about your roof please feel free to check out the section on roofleaks on our web site or better yet, give us a call.

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 us on the web or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North Carolina and South Carolina!

Infrared Scanning and Commercial/ Industrial Equipment

Ok, let’s see the hands of everyone not interested in saving money this year. Anyone?  Hmmmm, that’s what I thought, everyone is interested in saving money. As anyone who has been responsible for overseeing a maintenance budget knows, one of the biggest budget busters comes in the form of unexpected equipment failures. Fortunately Infrared Scanning can help you avoid those big surprises.

One of the cardinal rules of anything with an electric motor is that they give off heat when operating; fortunately that heat increases as parts become worn or damaged. Whether the culprit is a bent drive shaft, worn bearings, a damaged wiring harness or a faulty breaker, the heat output of that piece of equipment will rise. Infrared scanning is particularly well suited at locating these problems before they fail, allowing for repairs to be made in a timely fashion and saving money as well as down time.

Another cost saving use of infrared scanning as a preventative maintenance tool is its ability to scan interior walls. Worn or damaged electrical wiring can also give off an increased  heat signature, locating faulty wiring can allow for its repair before it can damage equipment or worse, lead to a fire.

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 us on the web or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North Carolina and South Carolina!

Detecting Flaws in Block Walls Using Infrared Scanning

And we are back! Welcome to 2013 (and how many of you are going to have trouble writing the old year for the next 6 months or so?) I am looking forward to getting back into blogging this year - seems like the holidays always slow me down.

To continue our discussion of Commercial applications for Thermal Imaging, I would like to take some time to talk about Block Wall scanning (block walls are sometimes called CMUs or Concrete Masonry Units - fancy, huh?).

Missing Grout - not visible to the naked eye!

Concrete block walls are a common method used in commercial construction and offer superior strength over wood framing methods. Once the walls are built, the masonry contractor will pour concrete grout in some or all (depending on the engineers specifications) into the hollow cells inside the concrete blocks down the depth of the wall. These cells will be vibrated as the grout is poured to help insure that no voids in the grout occur.  Unfortunately, there is no way to inspect these cells with the naked eye to ensure they have been properly filled. The problem with voids in the block fill is that they can cause structural weaknesses in the wall system and weaken the load baring points that support the upper floors, bond beams and roof system as well as checking for structural components built into the wall system.

Infrared camera scans offer a noninvasive method of examining the wall system to determine that it is properly constructed and structurally sound saving you from expensive and time consuming repairs at a later time.

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 us on the web or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North Carolina and South Carolina!