Thermography for Buildings

I thought I’d mention the valuable benefit of thermal cameras or thermography in assessing heat loss in buildings. 

Flir Heat Loss Flir Heat Loss Image

*Images from Flir

Although purchasing or renting thermal cameras are expensive, I have always felt that the information they provide can be extremely useful.  In one instance we used a camera to assess ceiling insulation that a contractor put in a retrofit building.  We were able to quickly determine that the insulation was not adequately disturbed in the ceiling because we could see cold spots.  Not only did it save us money from a heating perspective but we also used the images to get the contractor to do the job correctly.  Other times we’ve used thermography to find wet insulation. The image below is from Flir and it shows an example of what you'd find when looking for compromised insulation.

Flir

Check out Flir’s site for some of the ways thermography can be applied.

As industry moves to having more LEED or BOMA building homes, I’d like to see thermography play a bigger role.  I’d even go so far as propose that all new homes come with a thermography audit and imaging records.  Image if you find water in your basement or a water stain on the ceiling, how big of a problem do you have on your hands?  You could compare current images with past images to get a perspective on what needs to be done.  Major renovations of course would also benefit.  See if that new sunroom addition has cause points for heat loss.

Let me know if you’ve found thermography as a useful tool for building assessments.