Thermal Imaging Inspections of West Tennessee recently did a home inspection in Dyersburg Tennessee, and being a Certified Thermographer found a home with missing insulation and leak damage so bad the wind was going straight thru the wall.

Are all Tennessee homes insulated?

The short history of this home, is a year ago a tornado had lifted a roof from this house and ruined the sheetrock and most of the insulation. So a roofer was hired to replace the roof which in turn hired a sheetrock man to replaced the moist walls. The so-called professional sheetrock installers replaced the sheetrock and pulled out all the wet insulation, but failed to replace with new insulation. Here’s what happened when I arrived on site…

My Thermal Imaging Camera noticed the problem within seconds. My clients were thrilled with this information, and wished they had called me first to diagnose the issues before calling in contractors!

I have also resolved issues relating to tornado leak damage situations with my thermal imaging camera in the following towns; Jackson, Lexington, Milan, Humboldt, Paris, Medina, Henderson, Savannah and Selmer Tenn. in the last few years. A picture is really worth a 1000 words so, so don’t buy a home without looking behind those walls.

Also providing thermal leak detection services for the following counties Madson, Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decautur, Dyer, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson and McNairy.

Giving peace of mind one infrared inspection at a time!

B4 U Close Home Inspection
Mike Manns
731-431-0599
Visit Our Website Here

There’s only a couple of ways to track down where a leak is entering into a building, and that’s usually via the ‘hose flood test’, or using thermal imaging and moisture testing equipment. If the thermographer you hire has sufficient experience (and it’s recently rained), then they should be able to source the leak pretty quickly.

Here’s a photo example of what our infrared camera recently captured on the home office ceiling of a very successful entrepreneur…

This infrared image reveals a few things worth pointing out…

1) See  the large round shape? That’s a leak. The butanol waterproofing join on the deck above had insufficient overlap width and had perished… letting in water directly above this area.

2) See the dark patches around the edge of the ceiling? That’s where the insulation hasn’t been pushed right into the corners of the ceiling correctly… leading to low levels  of heat loss… but it all adds up!3) The dark area around the light is where the insulation has  been kept away from the lighting connections. This is correct installation to help prevent potential fires.

If your looking for simple, easy and quick ways to detect signs of problems within your building envelope, then infrared thermal imaging is the way to go… and no holes are put in your walls!

Here’s a question a reader of this website just emailed me…

“What type of thermal imaging camera should I buy that will allow me to find leaks… is a  FLIR infrared camera OK?”

Yes, of course they are ok… but any decent brand of thermal imaging camera will be able to see obvious ‘signs’ of wet patchs on drywall… even if it’s got .2o thermal sensitivity!

If you are new to this industry, please remember you are not actually seeing a wet patch… or a leak (That’s why I say ‘signs’ of a leak). You are seeing a difference in surface temperature, so you will need moisture confirmation testing equipment to make a more informed decision (Sometimes a hammer will work ). You will detect all kinds of anomalies on the surface of walls through the thermal imaging camera, and the key to success in the ‘Thermography’ business,  is knowing what you are really ‘seeing’…. no matter if it’s a FLIR Infrared camera or not. There are several companies who make infrared cameras that are well within spec for this type of application.

Is that a leak, or has a rat urinated above the ceiling and it’s soaked through? Yes, your IR camera will pick up all kinds of different possibilities… and that’s why this can be an exciting business to be involved in once you know how to get home inspections customers.

Here’s an example of the types of leaks you can track down using infrared…

Leaking Faucet Damage - Window Joinery Failure Leaks - Leaks on the Back of Showers - Leaks behind Drywall – Leaky Decks - Leaks in Water Plumbing Pipe Joins  -  Cladding Leakage – Leaky Roofs  -  Signs of Underground Water Pipes Leaking - Detect Moisture Behind Walls - and MANY more!

If you are a builder, plumber, handyman, electrician or anyone simply looking for a new business opportunity that can have a fast pay back in the right hands, then thermal imaging could be for you.

Below you’ll see 3 thermal imaging photo’s that helped us narrow down a ‘mystery’ leak to plumbing issues behind a wall. The first two images show ‘dark areas’ where the water had soaked into the drywall, and the third photo shows the window and ceiling of the floor below where the water was found dripping dripping through the top of a window…

Have you got a leak that you want found without ‘guessing’ where to put holes in the wall? Contact a thermal imaging specialist first!

The better a home looks, the more suspicious you should be in alot of cases (especially if you can smell fresh paint when you inspect the house), because there have been many occasions where dried out leak marks on the wall or ceiling have been painted over.

Take a look at this infrared photo…

This looks like a small dark blob on the ceiling, but in actual fact it’s a major plumbing leak! Infrared cameras can find leaks and heat loss within seconds of scanning a ceiling… all without touching the paint work!

If you are, then there’s good news and bad news…

There is actually no possible way to see water leaks behind walls unless you rip the wall off. The good news is that thermal imaging and non-invasive moisture testing is one of the very few ways to detect leaks fast without doing any damage to your home. There is no such equipment that can see through walls.

As you can see down the righthand side of the webpage, there are many infrared photos of leaks that couldn’t be seen with the human eye. The other important point to note here, is that water will take the path of least resistance and drop off at a low point, so the actual water entry point could be up to 5-10 metres (or more) away in some cases. In addition, certain styles of leaks could also indicate signs of plumbing issues in the wall.

In this infrared image, you can see a water leak in the ceiling and wall that was traced back to an expansion joint above…

 Thermal imaging could be a very fast way to detect a water leak in the house.

Why not get a free home inspection quote now!

Leak & Moisture Detection - Thermal Imaging - Infrared Inspections - Leaky Home Inspectors

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If you can’t find a leak, thermal imaging could be the quickest way!

Leaks coming through your ceiling can sometimes be tricky to find… depending on what’s directly above. In some cases the leak is coming through a light (traveling along wires), or coming through in the middle of the ceiling…  and other times around the edges and top of walls.

The infrared photo below was a result of a leaking deck. The home owner new this leak was there, but needed to know if it was tracking in from the side of the deck, or if it was isolated to one area above. In this particluar case there was deck drainage directly above the area, and it turned out to be a plumbing issue.

Recently an infrared inspector went to a Hilton hotel after they noticed water coming in through one of their penthouse apartments. Using the thermal imaging camera, the inspector immediately notice a ‘line up’ of isolated leaks on the camera screen. In this case there was an expansion joint above that was directly in line with where the leaks were appearing on the ceiling below. This saved the company from having to rip up the whole deck to detect the leak source!

Here’s what water coming through the roof looks like using infrared…

Finding a leak using a thermal imaging inspection company could be the fast way!

Is it leaking from directly above, or tracking along beams and dripping off at a low point?

There are different types of decks… over the top of rooms, cantilevered, tiled, butinol etc etc. No matter what type of deck you have, the issue of leaks will usually happen at some point, and sometimes they can be expensive to fix!

So should you get a tiler around to start ripping it apart to find where the water is coming in, or would a thermal imaging inspection make more sense? I can tell you right now that the logical way to go would be to detect the leak source first. It’s cheaper and faster… and will give you a good idea of where to start looking.

Here is a infrared image on leak on a lounge room ceiling that had a deck directly above it…

If you are seeing any suspicious marks on your ceiling under a deck (or on interior walls near a deck), then it could be wise to get an infrared thermal imaging inspection asap… for a piece of mind if anything.

A dishwasher leak, fridge leak or any other leaks in your kitchen can get very ugly. Case in point below.

Recently a thermal imaging inspector picked up a much bigger problem then he was first called out for. The home owner noticed water on their kitchen floor, and wasn’t really sure where the leak was coming from. After establishing it was a problem with the dish washer, the infrared camera then picked up moisture all through the surrounding wall!

If you look closely at this infrared image below,  you’ll see the dark blue area where the arrows are pointing. This is water behind the wall that could cause rot and all sorts of issues.

If it wasn’t for the thermal imaging camera, this water damage would not have been detected!