When it comes to inspecting your walls, we have come a long way from simple stud finders. Using our infrared thermographic cameras takes your wall inspections to a whole new level. Using this advanced technology we can easily help you locate wiring, pipes, ducts, drainage pipes, and just about anything else you can think of.
Wall Inspections
During a home or commercial premises inspection, much attention has to be paid to the walls. Those walls contain most of the essential systems of the building. Behind those walls, there are water pipes, electricity cables, HVAC systems, just to name a few. A wall inspection encompasses investigation of the condition of all these systems and the structural integrity of the wall itself.
Infrared thermographic inspection is one of the most revolutionary technologies being used today in building inspections. We use the technology to investigate the condition of homes and business premises and offer recommendations of the best solutions possible. Infrared thermographic imaging can help detect all kinds of structural flaws within your walls. It will also detect any structural or functional problems with the pipes and cables in the walls.
We are a team of experienced infrared thermographic inspection specialists, and we seek to ensure your home or business is in perfect condition. The infrared thermographic imaging technology features an infrared camera, that captures thermal variations. Anything that has thermal emissions has a certain level of infrared emissivity. It is this emissivity that the imaging camera captures. Different infrared emissivity appears as different colors of the wavelength spectrum on the imaging camera.
Infrared Thermographic Imaging for Wall Inspections
As mentioned above, infrared thermographic wall inspections take advantage of differences in thermal emissions. While conducting wall inspections, our specialists would be looking for cracks, wet patches, and other flaws in the walls. Cracks in walls will in most cases harbor some air. The air-filled area will have different thermal emission than the brick and wood surfaces around it. It will appear as a different color with its distinctive crack shape on the infrared thermographic imager.
While inspecting the systems in the walls, the same principle applies. You can have electric cables, water and drain pipes, and/or HVAC ducts behind these walls. Let’s explore how infrared thermographic imaging is used to detect flaws in each of these systems.
Electric Cables/Wires
Electric cables run throughout your home. In most instances, they will develop problems as a result of wear and tear. Electric faults are dangerous and should be repaired as soon as the fault develops. Unfortunately, it is not easy to note a faulty cable while it is inside the walls. Note that, just because all the electrical appliances and fittings are working, does not mean there isn’t something wrong with the cable.
The wires could get their insulation damaged and then they start getting corroded. Corroded electric wires tend to have high resistance to current flow. The high resistance causes the conductor to have a high temperature at that point that the rest of the cable. The higher emissivity will be easily noted by the infrared thermal imaging camera.
Insulation damage could cause two conductors to come into contact as well. That causes interference in the flow of current in each conductor. This is a dangerous situation that could easily cause an electric fire. In some instances, where the wires are in the open, you’d be able to observe sparks. The situation also causes high thermal emissivity by the conductors around that area. This will be easily be caught during an infrared thermographic inspection.
Our infrared thermographic inspectors will scan the entire electric circuit in your home or commercial premise, and identify all flaws that might be present. They also know where they are most likely to find faults on the cables behind the walls. Infrared thermographic inspection is a qualitative process. The identification of fault on the cables is based on comparisons. The inspectors expect the images of a normal conductor at a certain place to be a particular way. Any deviation from the norm is most likely a fault. During the inspection, images and footage of the entire electric circuit behind your walls are recorded. They are analyzed by electrical systems experts at our offices to conclusive identify all faults.
Water Pipes
The plumbing system has water pipes running all across your walls as well. They carry water that flows from the taps in the building. Faulty pipes will waste a lot of water, and damage the wall. Leaking pipes could damage other systems such as electric cables if they are in close proximity. As such, a leaking pipe needs to be caught as soon as possible. It might not be easy to immediately note a leaking pipe that is inside the wall. The leak will most likely have done some significant damage by the time you see any visible signs.
Water pipe leaks make the part of the wall around them wet and moist. Infrared thermographic imaging is very effective in detecting wet and moist patches on walls. Moisture detection inspection if often carried out when there is a significant difference in temperature between the air inside the building, and that outside. The wet or moist patches on the wall will absorb more heat from the hot air than the other parts of the wall.
During the imaging, the wet warm part appears different from the rest of the wall, and it is easily identifiable. The patch will have higher infrared emissivity and hence a different color on the infrared imager. In some instances, it might be necessary for the inspectors to run warm water through the pipes in order to identify any leakages that might be present. At times, wet patches on the walls are not always as a result of leaking pipes. Either way, our inspectors have to identify all wet patches on the walls and trace where the source of the moisture.
Just like with the rest of the inspections, the job of the inspector is to trace the whole plumbing system in the building and capture images and footage. Plumbing and infrared imaging experts at our offices will determine where the the leaks are, and provide recommendations on what ought to be done.
Drainage Pipes
The drainage systems of a building will also have a pipe running all through the walls. The pipes have to drain dirty water from all the sinks and toilets in the building. A leaking drainage pipe will be pouring filth on your walls. It makes the walls moist as well, and that could affect the structural strength of the walls. It is also a health hazard and needs to be discovered as soon as possible and repaired. Unfortunately, you might not be able to catch the leak immediately. That’s why an infrared thermographic inspection is essential. It can capture even the subtlest of such problems.
Just like water pipes, drainage pipe leakages make the part of the wall around them wet and moist. These patches are easily detectable through infrared thermographic imaging. Our experienced inspectors will scan the entire drainage system in the building. They are able to trace a moist or wet patch on the wall to a leak on a drainage pipe. The inspection is not just about scanning the drainage system in your building. The infrared images and footage captured by the inspector are carefully analyzed by drainage system experts at our offices to determine all possible leakages.
HVAC Ducts
HVAC ducts in buildings transport warm or cold air throughout the building. These ducts run across the walls or above the ceilings as well. A faulty HVAC duct will have some of the warm air getting lost when its needed. That translates into higher electricity bills and an ineffective HVAC system. Faults in HVAC ducts might not cause damage to the walls, but they will affect the efficiency of electric wires if there are any around them. HVAC systems are very essential for buildings in places with extreme weather conditions. It is difficult to note a fault in these ducts, and you may just have to keep paying high energy bills.
Infrared thermographic inspections can help identify faulty HVAC ducts as well. A leak in HVAC ducts is easy to detect because it oozes air that is of a very different temperature from that of the surrounding parts. The area around the leak will appear very distinct on the infrared imaging camera. We feature experts for each type of infrared thermographic inspection that we conduct. As such, your HVAC ducts will be inspected by an expert in HVAC systems and infrared imaging. The aim is to capture all possible faults and recommend appropriate solutions.
Just like with all the other systems, our inspectors will inspect the entire HVAC duct system behind your walls, so that we can provide a comprehensive report about its condition.
Must All These Inspections Be Done by Professionals?
While the infrared thermographic imaging technology has made our inspections easier, quicker and more efficient, building inspections still require professionals. As mentioned earlier, infrared thermographic inspections are a qualitative process. For each of the systems, we have an expert who understands the system and its behavior under and infrared thermographic scan.
For instance, if it’s the electric cables and wires, the images and footage taken will be analyzed by a team of specialists who understand electric measurement, and heat changes in electric systems. This qualitative knowledge enables them to make sense of the images captured. The same case is applied for the plumbing, drainage and HVAC systems.
One of the biggest advantages of this revolutionary inspection technology is that we never have to go behind your walls during the wall inspections. Our inspectors will scan these systems either from inside or outside the house. This helps avoid any unnecessary wall demolitions. Also, once we provide a comprehensive report of all the faults that are present, you’ll be able to get a good deal from repair technicians.
Also, if we are able to catch the faults early enough, it will cost you much less to conduct repairs. It is, therefore, necessary that you commission wall inspection for your home or commercial building regularly. The inspection is also quite necessary if you are purchasing a new building. You would not want to pay for a building whose essential systems are in shambles.
Get in touch with us today if you need any kind of inspection done on your building. Infrared thermographic imaging technology is the most effective inspection technology in the industry right now. Our inspectors will show up at your premise armed with infrared imaging cameras, scan the entire building in the shortest time possible, and bring the images and footage back to the office for analysis. You’ll then get a comprehensive report that will show you what faults are there, where they are, and how they should be repaired.