Thermal imagery, also known as thermography employs infrared camera technology that can accurately detect building abnormalities that result in energy losses. By repairing these areas, energy can be saved. Colour is used to express the varying levels of heat, with red and white areas being the warmest and blue/black being the coldest.

Insulation voids in external wall

Detection of Construction Failures

Thermography is a reliable non-destructive method of discovering construction failures in buildings. Thermography can be effectively used to prove that construction work has been correctly or incorrectly executed. It makes heat losses, humidity and air leaks that occur in buildings instantly visible on colourful thermal images. Thermography will show if there are voids in your buildings insulation or if insulation has simply sagged or slumped within cavity walls or timber frame panels over time.

Air leakage around a door frame.

Detection of Air Leakage
Thermal imagery is very effective at locating and expressing the severity of air leakage around windows, doors, skirting boards, under eaves, at joints between ceilings and walls and around vents and ducts. Thermal Imagery can be particularly effective at expressing air leakage in high and hard to reach areas such around sky lights or in vaulted ceilings.

Visualisation of Energy Losses

A typical example is localising leaks or blockages in under‐floor heating systems can be seen in the picture above.

Thermal bridges indicate areas in a building where energy is wasted. These spots can also lead to condensation or the precipitation of humidity from the ambient air. Mold subsequently grows in these places, thus creating a risk for the occupant’s health. Infrared thermography reveals faulty locations such as these immediately. Thermography is also an effective tool for inspecting heating pipes and coils for leaks that may waste energy and cause damp. Even when the heating pipes are laid in the floor or under a concrete screed, the heat of the pipes radiates through the surface and the pattern can easily be detected with an infrared camera.

A typical example is localising leaks or blockages in under-floor heating systems. With thermography, such leaks or blockages can be pinpointed so as to avoid the unnecessary digging up of large areas of finished floors resulting in high repair costs.

Leaks in district heating systems can also be detected and documented quickly with the help of infrared thermography.

Above can be seen a digital picture on the left and a thermal image of the same location on the right showing missing insulation

Thermography can show you energy losses on a large plane such as the South elevation of your home or it can show you specific isolated locations, such as around a doors or windows, that you may feel  are draughty.

Thermography can detect if a window or door is performing inefficiently. The leakage of an argon gas filler in a double glazed window or door, causing reduced performance, can be highlighted.

Fire Protection

Thanks to infrared thermography, crevices, leaking joints and loosening stones in chimneys and exhaust sections of heating systems can be effortlessly discovered when they occur. Overheated locations, which can create chimney fires, become immediately visible on the infrared image. The danger of a fire due to building too closely to hot heating and exhaust areas can also be recognised at once.