If your membrane roofing is old and you fear it has water damage, call a commercial roofing contractor to do an infrared survey of your roof. This type of survey uses an infrared camera to take videos and photos of your roof so the roofer can tell where water damage is present. Here's how a commercial roofing contractor does an infrared survey of your roof and what kind of results you can expect.

How An Infrared Roof Survey Is Done

An advantage of an infrared roof survey is that it is not disruptive to your roof. The alternative to the survey is to take samples of the roof to find the borders of water damage and to tell how bad the damage is. All that's required for an infrared survey is to use the proper equipment and take photos or a video of your roof. However, this has to be done at the right time of the day.

When your membrane roof has a puncture in it, rain leaks through the membrane and goes down to the insulation boards underneath. The boards soak up rain and the damage spreads to neighboring boards. The boards that are wet hold on to heat longer than boards that are dry. When the roof cools down in the evening, this temperature difference is noticeable and can be photographed with an infrared camera.

The Results You Can Expect

When the inspection is over, your commercial roofing contractor will have photos and videos for you to see. Infrared photos are different from regular photographs because the infrared photos show only temperature differences. Areas where your roof is warmer are a different color from cool areas. This allows you and the roofing contractor to see where your roof has water damage.

If there are situations where the results are inconclusive, the contractor may follow up with roof samples just to make sure damage is found if present. Results you might see are wet areas along roofing seams, large sections of wet roofing under shingles, HVAC units that have punctured the membrane, and damp areas underneath depressions.

The information you get helps you decide if your roof can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced. If repairs are suitable, then the roofer knows right where to work because the infrared camera pinpoints the problem areas on your roof.

Having one of these inspections done by your roofer could save you from replacing your roof sooner than you need to, but an inspection can also ensure you know when your roof needs to be replaced so a roofer can complete the job before your roof has serious leaks or collapses due to water damage.

If you need a roof inspection, reach out to a roofing business, such as Roof Revolution. 

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