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!

Predictive Roof Maintenance

“But the roof isn’t leaking!” is something I often hear from potential clients. If the roof isn’t actively leaking, often there is no motivation for facility managers to perform roof inspections of any kind. Typically, we are only called AFTER problems appear.

Is it really cost effective to have thermal roof scans done as part of your regular maintenance program?

Often when we inspect roofs, we will find wet areas that only comprise a small total of the entire roof. Especially in large commercial buildings where the total roof surface area can be tens of thousands of square feet large, the cost of replacing a roof can be huge.

When we use infrared thermography to identify specific areas for repair and subsequent re-assessment, we find that the savings in annual maintenance costs more than pays for the cost of the thermal roof scan.

Using thermography as a proactive maintenance tool can increase your roof performance, extended its service life, and reduce overall maintenance. If you are a facility manager who is responsible for the maintenance of your building, why not contact us to learn more? For more information, call me at 803-328-2889 or drop me an email!
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. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Faulty Breaker Box Can Cause Thousands of Dollars of Damage

Quick! Go take a look at one of the breaker boxes in your building. I bet it looks normal doesn't it? Maybe a little like this?












Here is a Thermal scan of the same breaker box. Note the abnormal heat level on the left. Scary isn't it?

This is why most commercial insurance companies provide discounts for property managers who conduct regular thermography scans of their buildings. What could be a horrific issue is easy to fix when you know it's there.

Thermal imaging is the only non-intrusive safe way to inspect for issues that you can't see with the naked eye.

Thermography picks ups other issues as well, including energy leaks. It's a win-win!





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

Certified Thermographers

Technology and equipment is becoming increasingly more sophisticated. I'm always surprised by the equipment people have stashed away! Remember when PCs first became available for your house? Not quite the streamlined netbooks on the market today!


Sometimes all this instant technological availability means I run into customers who already have some infrared equipment. Why use a certified thermographer if you already have a small infrared camera?


First, a thermographer will have professional level equipment that generally will produce higher and better quality scans. It's his job to have the best equipment available. For example, would you use a mobile phone camera to take your Christmas family photo or a high quality camera? Having a relatively small number of pixels, low resolution and small field of view, there is a higher probability of missing or misinterpreting a fault. These devices are best used for spot checks.

The sophisticated level of technology and the value of use makes infrared cameras expensive. One really must look at the economics of purchasing an IR camera. There is a lot of economic merit in using an experienced, qualified full time thermographer, delivering a quality service with good equipment at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a camera to be used occasionally by relatively inexperienced operators.


IR 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.