Building Performance Architecture

Hey friends! Happy !

Here is one of thousands of thermograms from a series of construction IR inspections that took place over multiple years. In this case, one could tell that there was a moisture problem in this concrete block wall by seeing the efflorescense with the human eye, but the thermogram really brings it home and shows more areas of possible moisture than one would see with a quick glance.

When included in a field observation report, this thermogram elicited an acknowledgement from the contractor that they needed to finish the exterior sealant installation around the louvers. The contractor would likely have finished the sealant installation without this prompt, but the IR scan bolstered one of the key aspects of the building enclosure commissioning process: raising the overall level of quality because the construction team knows the commissioning provider is watching closely.

Have you experienced similar psychological effects of quality control? There are many ways to do this; in addition to third-party commissioning providers, many contractors have excellent in-house quality control programs. What is your experience with this?

And what are your thoughts on what you see in the photos?

Kentucky Thermal Institute Air Barrier Association of America TruTech Tools, LTD Teledyne FLIR

Hey, friends! Happy !

Here, we have a window that is not in good shape - and fans of grayscale thermograms are in luck!

The first thermogram shows that the wood at the bottom of the window sash could be wet. How do you think that might have happened, assuming nobody poured water on it from indoors?

Then check out the second thermogram, which shows the same window. What additional problem does that image show?

This is one of several moisture, air leakage, and low-insulation problems at this building - the report will be epic!

What are your thoughts after seeing these?

Kentucky Thermal Institute Air Barrier Association of America Teledyne FLIR TruTech Tools, LTD

Hey Friends! Happy !

Check out these photos showing one method of confirming moisture in building assemblies after seeing something suspicious with the IR camera. The moisture meter detected approximately 15.8% moisture at the cool spot, and a much lower 8.6% moisture at the location with temperature the same as the rest of the wall.

15% moisture as detected by the Tramex CMEX-5 on the "Douglas Fir" setting is not an immediately-actionable level, but it is something. Now, the difficult part is deciphering where the moisture may be coming from, and whether any further investigation or repair is warranted.

Given that this space is a hot tub room (covers on the tubs), with an insulated wood stud wall and stucco exterior finish, what are your thoughts on this situation?

And what other interesting things do you see in these thermograms?

Air Barrier Association of America Kentucky Thermal Institute Teledyne FLIR

Hello, friends! Happy !

What on Earth is going on in these thermograms?!?

Here's a story about them: One late spring day, Joe Thermo, a friendly Level III Master Thermographer, was taking advantage of one of the last cool mornings of the season, gathering outdoor images of some buildings at dawn, while there was still a good ±22°F indoor-outdoor temperature difference.

After finishing the buildings he was working on, just out of curiosity, Joe decided to check out a building that he had heard of but not worked on.

The first image is what the camera showed first thing after Joe got out of his car. "Whaaaaat?" he said. This was possibly the weirdest pattern of thermal anomalies Joe had ever seen.

Joe Thermo couldn't resist looking closer, and he grabbed the 2nd & 3rd images here to try and make heads or tails of this. But he still doesn't know what is going on!

A casual observer without an IR camera would never suspect the frenzied patterns of thermal anomalies when looking at this plain brown wall.

The wall is made of precast concrete insulated sandwich panels, with a thick core of foam insulation between two thinner shells of concrete. Presumably, the idea of this wall system is to provide a good thermal barrier of continuous insulation, while achieving durability with water-resistant coated concrete faces.

Only, apparently, the insulation isn't exactly continuous.

What do you see in these photos that could help to explain the IR patterns, and what other interesting things do you see? Are you experienced with concrete sandwich panels and able to explain what is happening here?

Please share your thoughts!

TruTech Tools, LTD Kentucky Thermal Institute Teledyne FLIR Air Barrier Association of America

Hey, friends! Happy !

Here are some super-dynamic indoor thermograms from a large building, showing a number of things:

A. Stratification of temperature between lower and upper parts of the walls. What do you think is causing this? Maybe this is an HVAC question...

B. Air leakage through the closed and locked aluminum slider window. What are the possible air leakage paths?

C. The little cold spots at the top corners of the room are actually exposed structural steel plates sticking out past the indoor wall/ceiling finishes. No insulation between outdoors and the steel surface indoors. What are the possible consequences of this condition?

It's also interesting to see how this scene looks with different color palettes. The rainbow high contrast and arctic palettes really emphasize the temperature stratification on the wall. They also make the depth of different surfaces "pop." The ironbow and grayscale color palettes make the air leakage from the window look more like streaks, the classic IR signature of air leakage.

What are your thoughts on this, and what other interesting things do you see in these images?

Teledyne FLIR The Energy Conservatory Air Barrier Association of America TruTech Tools, LTD

Hey Everybody! Happy !

Hmm, why does that one roof support beam look so much colder than the others?

In this project, part of the building envelope commissioning scope of services was to provide an infrared scan of the whole building enclosure. One knowledgeable member of the construction management team asked the BECx provider, "When do you plan on doing the IR scan?"

The answer was that the scan would be done as early in the construction process as feasible, to pick up air leakage issues, insulation gaps, water leaks, loss of gas fill at glazing units, etc. Because, what good is it to wait until the end of construction to do the IR scan, when you're less likely to see problems due to things being covered up, and if you do see a problem through the interior finishes, those finishes will likely have to be removed to resolve the problem? Contractors are generally not happy when that happens.

In the case of this photo, the beam in question was a rectangular hollow steel tube, penetrating the exterior wall, and the outdoor end of the beam was not sealed from the outdoor air. If this hadn't been found, there could have been condensation on the roof support beam, and maybe even rain inside the building.

Fortunately, thanks to the thermographer looking at the whole building envelope and finding this (and some other things), the Contractor was able to seal off the open end outdoors, so cold winter air no longer had a nice rectangular corridor to get inside.

What do you think about this scenario? And what other interesting things do you see in this thermogram?

Air Barrier Association of America Kentucky Thermal Institute Teledyne FLIR

Hi Friends! Happy !

The building where these photos were taken has a good shot at Thermal Chic, and at excellent air-tightness, believe it or not.

Why, you may ask?

Because the project team did this blower door test and infrared scan! By finding the leaks before other building materials cover the surfaces that should be air-sealed, quality control professionals can show the Contractor where to apply air sealing measures, while there is still time to do it properly.

Pre-insulation blower door tests can enable buildings reduce air leakage so much that the building's mechanical system will have full control over ventilation, rather than getting uncontrolled ventilation via envelope air leakage. So, the building envelope consultant who does their job properly is helping the mechanical contractor achieve the objectives of the mechanical engineer and the owner, to the benefit of all parties to the construction contract, and to the benefit of building occupants.

What are your thoughts on this topic? And what do you see in these two formats of the same thermal image?

The Energy Conservatory Kentucky Thermal Institute Air Barrier Association of America

Hey there, folks! Happy ! Thermal Earth Day?

Reflection on life on Earth: While we don't always like the look of it, we're still pretty lucky to be here. So much life! Sometimes you get a stately hardwood tree, and other times you get a bracket fungus whose mycelium has invaded the tree, consuming it and weakening it over time.

The bracket fungus in this thermogram is not emitting as much infrared radiation as the tree trunk, but it is still very much alive. In fact, the fungal fruiting body shown here has a reason to be cooler than surrounding objects: to induce gentle convective airflows that can carry spores off to new locations.

While not good for the individual living tree, fungi like this can be very beneficial to forest ecosystems, breaking down dead or dying wood and enriching the soil for future plants.

Thanks to this fertile speck in the vast universe, we get to exist and be fascinated by the amazing complexity of what we encounter. Let's be grateful!

What are your thoughts? And what else do you see in these images?

Extinction Rebellion NRDC House Committee on Natural Resources: Democrats 350.org

Hello friends! Happy !

Here are 2 grades of small home, in a thermogram taken before sunrise on a below-freezing morning. On the right: a 100-year-old 2-story building, built before energy codes existed, with a chimney heated by combustion exhaust gases, and no garage. On the left: New Zero Energy Ready certified homes with integral garages, better-than-code insulation and windows, high-efficiency all-electric HVAC, and PV panels to chop the top off the electric bills. Verified by Building Performance Architecture, of course.

Sometimes the verifiers get a little jealous of the people who get to live in the Zero Energy Ready Homes. While not perfect for everyone, these homes are pretty nice.

What would you think about living in a home like this in the urban core? What are your other thoughts or observations on the thermogram?

U.S. Department of Energy Teledyne FLIR Building Efficiency Resources Kentucky Thermal Institute

Hello everyone - Happy !

5:00am on what may be the last sub-freezing morning of the spring is the perfect time to squeeze in one more outdoor building IR walk...isn't it?

A recurring theme during this walk was all these blotches on the outdoor face of brick walls. The blotches that appear to be warmer than the brick on the rest of the flat surfaces. Does anyone know what these blotches are?

Also of interest in this photo are the two hot spots directly above and below each other, where exhaust ventilation exits the building. And the warm spots at the bottom right of the thermogram, which most likely correspond to mechanical or electrical equipment in the basement.

This building happens to be certified as highly energy-efficient, so why do the walls have these warmer blotchy patterns on them? Well, for those of you who have taken the time to read this far down, here's the more revealing question, which takes some thermographic insight to ask:

"In infrared thermograms, why does frost on brick sometimes look warmer than adjacent brick with no frost on it?"

Also, why does the frost form? What does your AI tell you? 😄 Or, for those old-schoolers, what are your own personal thoughts on this?

What else do you see in this photo?

Teledyne FLIR Kentucky Thermal Institute TruTech Tools, LTD