Infrared Scanning and Roof Systems

I’ve been talking a lot about using infrared scanning to locate roof leaks in the past months but with spring just starting and with all the storms that accompany it, I thought it would be a good time to answer a question about thermal imaging and types of roof systems.

Does Infrared imaging work on all types of roof systems?

The answer is mostly yes with the only real exception being roofs that employ masonry elements like terracotta tiles or pre-formed concrete tile as an outer (or top layer). Most roof systems use a series of layers applied to an insulation panel, or insulated roof deck and single ply materials like shingles. Built-up, layered or single ply roof systems provide the best targets for an infrared camera because they are in direct contact with the insulated component of the system allowing it to detect the any inconsistencies in the heat exchange rate between the roof and the evening air. Masonry roofing components hold the heat of the day much longer and release their heat at a much slower rate which often masks the rate of transfer from the insulation to the roof deck making wet areas harder to find.

Keep in mind that while masonry roofing materials do not lend themselves to infrared scans, my infrared cameras can be very effective in finding construction defects in masonry wall systems. If you’re wondering if Thermal Imaging can help you find a possible roof leak in your building or are considering adding Thermal Imaging to your yearly maintenance program, give me a call! Is it time to schedule your infrared inspection?

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!

The Green Initiative: Renovation of Older Buildings and Thermography

I love the old South. The historic brick buildings, the old wood homes with wraparound porches - there's a certain feel of nostalgia that is enchanting. I imagine the electric bills for those buildings are not quite so enchanting (to say nothing of the mold from moisture intrusion from leaky roofs or the the chill in the winter from old, damaged, and missing insulation!).

One of the goals of a pre-renovation inspection is to get a fast, reliable, cost-efficient and objective view of the building's thermal insulation. In order to detect weak points early during the renovation process, a thermal image evaluation allows you to quickly detect insulation faults and avoids expensive damages and loss of energy down the road.

A complete thermographic survey allows you to:

1. Assessing the thermal insulation of old buildings

2. Find and identify existing defects in window casings and joints

3. Find and identify missing or faulty insulation

4. Locate structural issues - missing mortar or bricks

5. Locate areas of moisture instrusion because of problems with the existing roof

Infrared Scanning - an integral part of building renovation!

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 http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ 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!

Thermal Scanning Data Centers in North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina is known as one of the largest banking centers of the United States, which means it is also home to lots and lots of data centers. As a matter of fact - Apple's new data center in North Carolina is now visible on Google Earth! (http://www.tuaw.com/2011/04/24/local-tv-station-visits-apples-data-center/) Why am I mentioning this in a blog about infrared scanning? Because thermal imaging of a data center infrastructure can provide critical information about your center's health and functioning.

What exactly IS a data center? Simply put, it is a facility that houses crucial computer systems and their related components. For example, every bank has multiple data centers. These data centers house the mainframe computers that contain all the bits and bytes that represent YOUR money (and a whole lot more data). Although data centers are set up to be redundant (if one fails, the redundant data center should immediately and safely resume operations), a good predictive mainentance program helps to ensure failure through preventable incursions doesn't happen.

Thermography in the data center allows you to check for hidden problems before they occur. Next week, we'll take a look at what some of them might be.

Infrared Scanning - it's not just for commercial buildings anymore!


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 http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ 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!

4 Reasons to Have an Energy Scan as Part of Commercial Building Maintenance

If you are in the business of commercial building maintenance, an easy way to reduce heating and cooling costs is to schedule annual Energy Surveys (also known as Energy Scans). Here are four reasons why:

1. Locate heat loss that is invisible to the naked eye, but clearly identifiable to a thermal scan.

2. Pinpoint missing, wet, and damaged insulation.

3. Locate causes of mold, ice dams, and frozen pipes.

4. Find cold air infiltration and moisture buildup.

The cost to find the root causes of energy loss in your building is a fraction of the money saved by improving building envelope efficiency!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans.

What's Going On Behind YOUR Walls?

Hmmmm...all references to Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart aside, what really IS behind your drywall? How do you know that your concrete masonry walls are properly reinforced using concrete grouting and rebar?

Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) or 'block' walls are everywhere - in buildings of every kind, size, and shape. After the CMU wall is built, it can be painted or it might get a brick facing or a stucco finish. It's almost impossible to see any structural integrity issues at this point!

In the past, the only way a building owner could tell if quality work was done was to drill or hammer holes into the concrete wall. Of course, this only gives you a small sample size - which means you could have massive structural integrity issues only a few feet away from the hole! The most popular way to make sure that grouting and rebar in place is to require the builders to install inspections port, cut into the block faces. This is a very costly, time-consuming and sloppy method.

Of course with infrared thermography, we now have an easy way to find structural deficiencies in either the components (like the concrete blocks, grouting, and rebar) or in the building's thermal envelope. Make sure your building is safe and efficient!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans

Using Infrared Thermography Surveys to Scan Your Roof Finds Areas of Damage

Infrared roof scans and surveys are all performed following ASTM guidelines for locating wet roof insulation.

So How Do Roof Surveys Work?

Roof Scans are usually scheduled 2-3 hours after sunset. This is because the sun radiates energy (heat) onto the roof and roof substrate during the day. After sunset, as it starts to cool, the roof radiates the heat back into the atmosphere. This process is called radiational cooling and it is what makes roof surveys using thermography possible.

The areas of the roof that are wet retain heat longer than dry areas. Infrared imagers can “see” these areas. In addition to detecting areas of damage that lead to roof leaks, it’s also the perfect time to conduct heat loss and other infrared services!

The reports provided from a Roof Scan Infrared survey give your roofing professionals the information they need to recommend cost-effective removal and replacement of the wet areas – extending the life of your roof!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

Why is My Roof Leaking?

Do you wince when you see the weather report calling for rain, knowing that the pesky leak the roofers can’t seem to fix is going to start dripping water down the walls of your business – or worse – dripping water onto your equipment?


It can be frustrating when you see evidence of water seepage but no one can locate the reason why!


Did you know that as much as 90% of all water intrusion problems occur within 1% of the total building or structure exterior surface area?


Even more amazing is that approximately 99% of waterproofing leaks are from reasons other than material or system failures!


Part of the reason that the source of the leak can be hard to locate is that water travels. Where the water breaks through may actually be quite a distance from the actual leak. In commercial buildings, that means that literally thousands of feet of roof space is suspect.


Roof scans, sometimes called roof surveys, use infrared thermography to spot thermal anomalies in the roof. It’s like providing GPS coordinates to the needle in the haystack!

Outright Failures Identified by Thermal Scans

This month we are talking about maintenance and how thermal imaging should be an integral part of your building maintenance program. It's easy to tie in how catastrophic equipment failure can hurt your business. It's also easy how to see if your equipment is running at peak, it can save you money.

However, infrared inspections can save you money in other ways. And in today's economy, who doesn't want to cut costs?

* Reduced inventory of maintenance parts
* Labor cost savings by avoiding serious equipment failures

(downtime for labor personnel while equipment is non-functional)
* Energy savings by sealing building leaks
* Savings from decreased downtime through increased output
* Reduced waste and scrap parts by improving equipment operation
* Safer working conditions (reduced injuries to maintenance and operating personnel)


IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

Baseline Infrared Imagery

Although I strongly believe in scheduling semi-annual or annual infrared thermography scans as part of your maintenance plan, it is helpful to create a baseline scan for all new equipment as well.

What is a baseline scan? A baseline scan provides baseline data for comparision for subsequent infrared scans. It makes it easier and quicker to troubleshoot potential issues and helps spot problems before they become catastrophic. With baseline scan records, trend analysis of motors and bearings can provide an early warning of impending problems.

Your company invests a substantial amount of money into equipment. To get the best return on that investment, it makes sense to keep that equipment at its peak efficiency - and to have the peace of mind to know it is operating that way from the point of installation. Doesn't it make sense to have a baseline scan done of any new equipment?

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

What is an Arc Flash Event?

One of the scariest and most catastrophic events that can happen in any type of building (but especially in a chemical or manufacturing plant) is an Arc Flash Event. Not only can an arc flash cause enormous amounts of damage to equipment, it can cause serious injury or even death.

An Arc flash (or arc blast) is an electrical explosion resulting from a short circuit through air that flashes over from one exposed live conductor to another conductor or to ground.

Arc flash incidents are common and costly, and the frequency of reported accidents is increasing. Each year, arc flash events cause millions of dollars in equipment damage, injuires and deaths. Often times these injuries are caused by shrapnel from the damaged equipment hurtling through the air at over 700 miles per hour.

Infrared scans are able to spot abnormally high operating temperatures and identify them as Critical faults, giving you and your company the opportunity to fix it at a fraction of the cost of an arc flash event - and more importantly - protect the safety of your team.

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

Flat Roofs and Moisture Issues

A friend of mine lives in a condo. The condo is part of a group of buildings with flat roofs. There have been repeated issues with roof leaks over this past winter. The roofers have been out multiple times, fixing the leaks when they show up. Drywallers and painters are a constant fixture. In her frustration, she wondered why they can't just find and fix the roof leaks or why they don't just replace the entire roof. She wonders how much her HOA fees will increase because of the repeated visits from the roofers.

It's stories like this that prove the value of infrared imaging. Often the place where the leak shows up can be very far away from where the actual roof damage exist. As water enters the roof through the waterproofing layer(s) by tears, cuts, poorly sealed penetrations, failed flashings and caps, the insulation below can become laden with water and trapped in the roof substrate. If left in disrepair, the concrete deck absorbs or traps water, the wood deck rots. The metal deck rusts, and water intrudes into the building’s interior. Often the visible signs (wet walls, for example) are not even close to the actual roof damage, so examining the roof above where the leak occurs often reveals nothing. That's not where the problem is.

Infrared imaging is a proven method for identifying and defining moisture problems in your roof. This way you can correct problem areas without the tremendous expense of replacing the entire roof. Next time, I'll explain how this works!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy