Building applications range from the fairly straightforward, such as wet roof insulation, to advanced building science studies. Building envelopes, heating and cooling systems, electrical systems, insulation, pest infestation, structural integrity, and many other aspects can be studied using infrared technology.
As with all infrared inspections it is also important to understand the theories involved in how infrared radiation works and how heat transfer is affecting the objects in a thermal image. Concepts such as emissivity, thermal reflections, thermal conductivity, transient heating and cooling, and environmental effects are crucial to the identification and diagnosis of building problems.
This is the North wall in a 1948 house during the winter. The thermal conductivity of the studs, nails, and insulation are very apparent, as is the lack of sealing of the plate at the top of the wall.
This is an image of a hardwood floor in a house. The heating duct between the floor joists had become disconnected, filling the cavity, rather than the room above, with warm air.
This image shows wet insulation on a roof. During the day, the sun will warm the roof, and this energy is stored in the thermal mass of the water after the sun's energy is removed. At this point, the wet insulation appears as a hot spot. In the morning, the sun warms the roof again,and wet material takes longer to warm up, appearing as a cold area. At some point during the day and during the night, thermal equilibrium will occur, making the indication disappear.
Older, aluminum sliding windows typically do not seal as well as the newer style sliding windows. This image shows the exfiltration of warm air around the poor seals on the smaller, sliding portions of these windows on the second story of a house.
This image shows air leakage in a wood-framed, multi-story building under positive pressure.
The doors and portions of the wall in this image show failures in the building envelope and missing insulation when viewed with a thermal imaging system.
Wet insulation is apparent in the corner of this basement room.
This portion of the main floor in a residence is over the furnace room. The cat found areas warmed by leaks in the forced air ducting before the infrared camera did.
A portion of the building caught fire beside this large, industrial freezer. During the attempt to extinguish the fire, water penetrated the freezer insulation from the top down. This image shows the areas of wet insulation.
This image shows air exfiltration under positive pressure in a sitting area of a public building.
This image shows electric heating panels installed in the ceiling of an apartment condominium building.
This image shows in-floor heating in a large meeting hall. The lines had to be located prior to coring for foam-jacking. The hot spots are where the holes were drilled in the concrete, guided by one of Maverick's thermographers.
This image shows in-floor heating in a public pool reception area. The lines had to be located prior to drilling to anchor benches onto the concrete.
Only four of the eight passes on this side of the header have flow through them. The header was installed on a strange angle, causing airlocks and preventing air from properly bleeding from the valve on the top center of the header. If thermography is used to locate in-floor heating, air-locked lines will not show up since there is no hot fluid flowing through them.
This residence has a bat infestation in the roof sections. A thermal imaging system was used to determine where the access areas where so that they could be sealed when the bats left.
There is moisture evident behind the metal siding of this office building.
Leaks in the passes of in-floor refrigeration systems can be detected using infrared thermography, but this technique requires a great deal of care and the proper procedure to be effective.
This image shows ice behind the siding of a residence. There is a poor seal around the top of the fireplace chimney.
This image shows wet insulation by a roof scupper. The freezer is cold and the day was hot, so the thermal signature is reversed from what you would normally expect from moisture in roofing insulation.
This image shows warm air infiltration on the cooling penthouse of an industrial freezer. Moisture from the warm air is condensing and freezing on the cold surfaces around the envelope leak. In some areas, the frost and ice was noted on the floor below the leaks rather than in the immediate area of the air leak.
This image shows warm air infiltration between a pre-existing building and a freezer expansion that was added later. Moisture from the warm air is condensing and freezing on the cold surfaces around the envelope leak.