When buying a new home, the buyer needs all the help they can get. Use infrared thermal imaging for home inspections to identify areas of problems that the naked eye cannot detect. They can spot small, but key changes in temperature in different areas of a property, saving you from potentially purchasing a home with defects. A house will show up varying in temperatures as we scan the house with a camera sensitive to infrared radiation.
What is Infrared Thermal Imaging/Thermographic Inspection
The infrared thermal imaging camera was designed to detect heat energy. It is a handheld electronic device with an integrated visual display. A major part of a thermal camera is the heat sensor attached to a special lens which adapts to work alongside standard image-capture technologies. Engineers will identify regions of uncontrolled use of temperature or sources of wasted heat energy, such as overheating components or potential thermal insulation gaps during a home inspection when buying a home.
Instead of taking traditional images, the visible light camera works by showing an image of the area, built from varying colours based on differing heat levels. A thermal imaging camera can detect heat through walls and other blocks that cause difficulties in detecting an issue in a home inspection. The refresh rate on a thermal imaging camera is also important.
How Can Thermal Imaging be Useful
There are some building codes to follow when selling or buying a house. Thermal imaging is useful in conducting some inspections to ensure they follow the guidelines and find faults or safety issues.
Some are:
- Energy Audits: Energy rates are on the rise and thermal imaging has been a great way to help homeowners save money. It can take action to correct the detection of heat loss and/or cold air influx to help improve the energy-efficiency of your potential home.
- Plumbing Inspections: To determine if there is active leaking going on, we can scan in, under or around plumbing fixtures in the home. Thermal imaging can detect temperature irregularities in the plumbing system where you otherwise could not see. The resulting home inspection’s written report can be a great aid for the repair plumber hired to address the identified issues.
- Electrical Inspection: This inspection finds hot-spots caused by defects in connections and components. Increased resistances cause areas of excess heat so that problems can be corrected before a component fails, causing damage to the component, creating safety hazards and productivity loss. Because increased heating is a sign of failure, infrared is the best diagnostic tool available for finding anything outside of the normal temperature range in the early stages of degeneration.
What Problems Can Thermal Imaging Detect
Thermal imaging is useful in detecting problems during an inspection. Some problems it will detect are:
- Roofing Leaks: It only takes one image to determine whether an area has accumulated moisture. Water gives up its heat at a slower rate than its surrounding roofing materials because of its high thermal capacity. The best time to check for roofing leaks would be in the evenings when the outdoor temperature drops. The roofing materials will have released their heat, showing up blue or purple on the image, while the moisturized materials will still be warm and will show up red or orange on the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Structural Defects: After scanning the walls, floors and ceilings, the camera will detect differences in temperature measurement and conductivity which tell us about hidden, missing structural components and damaged portions of these components.
- Insulation and Air Leaks: Homeowners or potential homeowners are already concerned about air leaks and having secure insulations. These minor defects can cause an increase in pricing on gas and electricity bills. It is something that you must check when doing house inspections and the thermal imaging camera helps with picking up on the difference in heat around windowsills and in crawl spaces and small cracks on the wall where you can see visible light. This can often mean that they need better insulation, and small gaps are allowing air to travel in and out of the house.
- Electrical Faults: To prevent problems of injury and property damage, it is important to identify the source of electrical problems quickly and accurately because this will not only save lives and property but add immense value to a home. The image will have yellow marks wherever there is damage to electrical systems.
- Termites: Termite infections are difficult to detect until it is too late and they can cause massive problems to the house. Luckily, thermal imaging can help to detect these problems sooner than later. We can detect the heat of the termites and other bugs using the thermal imaging camera because they usually travel in packs. Termites appear as a significant but small area of difference in heat. They can lead to moisture and we can detect that with thermal imaging cameras, leading to a higher chance of finding them.
If you are buying your dream house, whether by real estate agents or self-searching, ensure there are no hidden problems buy utilizing the infrared thermal imaging home inspection. Home sellers dislike easily-fixable problems scaring off buyers when they get an inspection done. Both homeowners and sellers benefit from an inspection.
Also, the results of the infrared home inspection must be interpreted by an expert, preferably a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors and an inspector from Home Pro Inspections.
When home buyers and sellers choose the right home inspector, they are hiring a professional dedicated to high-quality service. They will be versed about sources of error in measurements such as dry areas, reflected heat, and the limit of surface reading. They will also know if you need additional inspections based on their findings.
Unless your eyes have built-in night vision goggles, you need to contact Home Pro Inspections to schedule your Infrared Thermal Imaging Home Inspection today.