If you're planning on having a new commercial roof installed, it's a good idea to have a roof moisture survey done first. This survey is done to determine how much of your roof has water damage. This is important information when you're trying to decide whether to cover your old roof with new roofing or tear all the old roofing off first.
Your contractor can do a roof moisture survey and determine the percentage of the roof that has water damage due to water leaks. If the percentage is low, the roofer may put the new roof over the old one. If a large portion of the roof has water damage, the wet materials will probably need to come off first along with the rest of the old roofing. Here are things to know about a roof moisture survey.
An Infrared Survey Is A Popular Choice
There are a few ways to check for moisture damage on a commercial roof, but an infrared survey is a popular choice since it's easy to do and not too expensive. An infrared survey is done with a thermal camera.
An Infrared Roof Moisture Survey Detects Temperatures
The camera makes pictures and videos based on temperature differences. These cameras can be used to look for hot spots in electrical systems and water leaks. Any time there's a temperature difference, the camera will pick it up.
The picture that's created makes it look like the camera can see under the roofing or behind walls. However, what's really happening is that the camera is just picking up temperature differences on the roof to create an image.
Infrared Surveys May Be Done At Night
An infrared camera can be used at night since it doesn't pick up visible light from daylight. The camera makes pictures in darkness too since it makes pictures based on heat differences. When commercial roofing is surveyed, the contractor may do the work at night since wet roofing materials will hold on to heat longer than dry materials, so the temperature difference is more noticeable at night.
Drones Can Do A Roof Moisture Survey
An infrared camera can be mounted to a drone and flown over the roof to do the survey. This allows parts of your roof to be surveyed that might not be accessible on foot. Plus, the survey might be easier to do from the air. If the contractor doesn't want to use a drone, they can walk over the roof being careful not to miss any places, and make the roof moisture survey video by hand.
For more information, contact a company that offers roof moisture surveys.