Thermal Imaging & Flat Roof – Case Study.

DMI were called to a home that had historically had problems with a particular part of their flat roof.  Over time, it had leaked water into the interior of their house and that had led them to having it replaced.

Unfortunately, the initial repair had been below par and so had been redone.  Although this was some time ago, and there were no signs of problems to the naked eye, the owner was curious to find out if everything was as it should be.

When checking for water ingress with a thermal imaging camera, it’s important that the flight be carried out under the correct conditions.  This inspection flight took place during the hottest summer in living memory and, as thermal cameras read reflected heat, a day time inspection would have generated misleading results.  Therefore, the flight took place when the sun had gone down and the roof had had a chance to cool.  Counter-intuitively, at this point water will remain warmer than the surrounding structure and can be clearly visualised in a thermal image.

In the resulting image, you can clearly see a hot patch which would indicate the presence of water within the roof structure.  The owner decided to have this investigated further despite the fact that there was no evidence of water ingress inside the home.  She later contacted us to say the following…

Hi Steve just to let you know that after your thermal imaging visit I decided to replace the flat roof with a pitched roof and this has now been completed. Despite it being a super hot summer there was indeed water sitting between the layers of fibreglass and over boarding.  No there was no signs of water ingress into the house, the original layer of fibreglass was retaining the problem, however, some of the boards were rotten and soaking.

Thanks for your help with this, I’m glad to say that it pushed me on to rid us of the problem. Kind regards, Jane

This just goes to show what an invaluable tool thermal imaging can be in spotting a problem before damage becomes more severe and therefore the repair cost really starts to rise.  A simple drone flight both with a thermal and a standard camera allows us to access your roof space in a non-invasive, fast and efficient  manner and can provide you with a detailed report allowing you to identify repair requirements and advise your contractor.

To book your roof inspection, just contact Drone Media Imaging. and we are happy to provide you with a quote.