Well almost! With InfraredThermal Imaging you can actually see the temperature measurement differentials given off by all the materials behind your walls. You can then locate areas where water instrusion is occurring, areas where there is energy loss due to improper insulation, and you can also view the electrical and plumbing in your home.

Why do I know this?

Because I have had a water leak in my house and needed to get to the source of the problem. This one spot has leaked in my kitchen whenever we have wind and rain. Usually a couple of times a season, we end up with a leak. Every year we have people out to fix the problem. But each year, the leak is back in the same spot. We really thought we had our leak fixed in 2005 as our entire roof and some skywall windows were replaced. Then in October of 2005, the rains began and the leak was still there. The roofer repaired the leak. The rains came again in October of 2006 and along with it came our friendly leak, like an old friend (or enemy?) Drastic action was necessary. We cut a whole in our ceiling and have chosen not to close it up until we felt we had licked the leak problem. The roofers came out again (for the third fix) and “fixed” the problem. Then came our infamous wind/rain storm last winter. During that storm, I was dealing with an indoor waterfall, not a leak. I needed buckets to catch the rain for that one. Fortunately, the inch downpour only lasted about an hour that day.

I contacted Cascade Thermal Imaging. The company has an Infrared camera that can detect temperature differentials of all materials in walls, ceilings, roofs, etc. They have been out to my home twice now to do testing. It’s really fascinating to see. Their camera detects the amount of infrared energy given off by an object. You can then see the differences in moisture and heat. They found evidence of moisture in the wall and also in other spots we never knew might be wet. These images were shown to the roofer and they are investigating further. They are doing some invasive procedures to confirm the imaging photos, but it looks as if there is now some great information that will help solve our leak problem. The roofers may now know where to look for our leak!

I will keep you posted on the saga of the leak and let you know whether the thermal imaging was able to identify the problem areas. I may not fully know the results until we get through another winter as that is the only time I have ever had a leak in my home. We are getting closer to feeling like we can close up the hole in our ceiling.

The thermal imaging process is a new resource that will help identify problems more clearly in ways we have been unable to do before. I see Thermal Imaging being used if you have a problem, such as a leak, and are unable to track the source. I also see buyers using this process as part of a building inspection if there is a concern about a leak, a roof problem, electrical and plumbing systems, and overall energy efficiency of the home.

http://www.Cascadethermal.com

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