Why do we use infrared cameras?

At Bee's Inspections, we use infrared cameras to see things that the naked eye can't.

Infrared sensors see heat signatures, and usually show differences in heat with warm and cool colors. The hotter the thing it's seeing, the closer to yellow-white — the colder, the more purple-black.

This is a cold air register in the floor, and my infrared camera can see that the air coming out of the vent is colder than the air in the rest of the room. That's good!

So I can use my camera to search for drafts, find places where the insulation isn't working well, or maybe is just plain missing. This helps me recommend adding or fixing insulation, or putting a better gasket around a door frame to keep the cold air in while you pay for air conditioning during Utah's summer months!

What's more, if something is wet, it shows up as colder on the heat camera.

The images below show what we found in a basement in Utah County.

It started with a cold spot on the floor that turned out to be wet carpet we didn't feel through our shoes. We looked up and didn't see anything, so we went back to the infrared camera, and we saw that dark, cold, wet spot on one of the wood beams that held up the first floor above the basement. We took a step back and found a couple of wet spots along the beam.

I'm still not 100% sure where it was coming from, maybe it was just condensation on the cold air ducts, but we were able to put these infrared images in our inspection report and help the homeowner see something they never would have been able to see with their eyes.

If we hadn't caught it, that beam would still be wet.

Wet beams rot, and rotten beams collapse.

If you're buying a home, or just looking for where to start when it comes to maintaining the home you already have, call Bee's Inspections. We'll use an infrared camera to check for water that's not where it's supposed to be.