Pinpointing Leaks With an Infrared Camera

Every building is vulnerable to moisture getting in, whether it’s from the roof or the facade. Once a leak is discovered, there’s a wide range of ways to attack it. But first you have to find the source. Our specialty is the restoration of buildings, and we use equipment that can show us the condition of a roof or facade – where the anomalies exist – without ripping it up. 

A contractor may come to your board and say, “Look, we can solve your problem. You don’t need an architect. We’ll just replace the roof.” Well, that may be true. They’ll replace the roof, and there won’t be any problems if they put the roof on correctly. But removing a roof sometimes is not as easy as you might think and could be very, very costly. Also a lot of old roofs, especially ones that were done in the ’60s and ’70s, may have asbestos. If that’s the case, the cost of removal could be two or three times more than otherwise, and that could be a big problem. 

Here’s a solution. By using an infrared camera, we’re able to identity where the leaks are. The roof may be in pretty good condition. You’ll have a few areas, maybe 5 percent of the roof, where there’s some moisture within the membrane. We would track that down with the infrared camera. We could also develop a roofing replacement, which would cut out the wet areas, leave the solid areas, and you could probably save 40 to 50 percent of that roof, which is quite a bit. You would also get you the same 20-year warranty you’d have gotten for replacing the whole roof. In those situations, I tell my clients: after 20 years, call me back. 

Robert J. Stahl is a principal at Robert J. Stahl Architect.