A long-time roofing company client reached out to us to get help with a thermal drone roof scan of a property that was in the process of being sold. There was uncertainty about the condition of the roof; more specifically, whether to do a roof overlay job or an entire roof replacement.
The roof in question was fairly small, coming in at just a few thousand total square feet. But even with a small roof, there can be moisture ingress issues that can go undetected without infrared imaging.
The Process
Now we’ll talk more about the process from start to finish.
Pre-Mission Planning
As always, we started the process with standard pre-mission planning. This included the following:
- Checking local weather to determine the best day to perform the thermal roof scan. For more information about the weather considerations that go into the process, take a look at our service page.
- Checking the airspace surrounding the site. In this case, the roof was just barely within the surface-based Class B airspace for Dallas Love Field. But since it was far enough from the airport, we were able to easily obtain a LAANC authorization to fly.
Performing the Infrared Roof Scan
Thankfully, we were able to schedule the inspection to take place a few days after it rained in the area, and the other environmental criteria were perfect for an accurate inspection. So, we packed our gear and set out.
Depending on the particular job, it can be difficult to find a good spot to set up to perform the scan. In this case, we found a back area of the parking lot that would work quite well. Since we operate under Part 107, we have to keep the drone within visual line of sight at all times, and the chosen spot would allow us to do so.
There was an on-site security guard patrolling the area, so we let him know why we were there and what we would be doing.
We set up our equipment, and shortly after an hour past sunset, we were ready to begin.
Since this was a smaller roof, the inspection process itself didn’t take long. We flew the mission at different altitudes to give us more options to choose from for post processing (tuning and analyzing the thermal images) later on.
Once we were satisfied with the number of thermal images captured, we landed the drone, plugged the SD card into the computer, and made sure the images were satisfactory. Then, we packed up and got ready for post processing.
Post Processing
Back at the office, we started post processing. During this process, we upload the thermal images into our preferred thermal analysis software. Then, we tune the images (adjust the contrast to make areas of concern stand out) and add annotations highlighting these areas that show signs of possible moisture ingress.
Side note — due to the smaller size and scope of this particular project, a thermal roof map was not needed/requested. But if you want to learn more about thermal roof mapping, we have a blog post that discussed the process in detail.
Next, we compiled the tuned and annotated thermal images into our preferred report format. Then, we added a preliminary analysis section outlining the areas of the roof that showed signs of moisture ingress.
In this case, there were several areas of the roof with thermal anomalies indicative of possible moisture. These areas included:
- Around some of the HVAC units
- Around several drain areas
- Other miscellaneous areas across the roof
However, there were also some anomalies that could have been the result of reflected heat from adjacent roof structures, and we mentioned that possibility in the report.
Delivering the End Product
Once the report was complete, we were ready to share it with the client. This document is the final deliverable that our clients receive (and if thermal roof mapping is requested, we also provide the file containing the thermal orthomosaic).
In our reports, we provide a brief note recommending that our clients follow our findings up with hands-on destructive testing methods of inspection to verify our preliminary findings.
So, we sent the report over, and that concluded our role in the project.
In Closing
And just like that, our client received a comprehensive thermal analysis document that provided them with actionable data to drive their operations.
We followed up with the client several days after delivering the report, and they told us that the decision had been made to proceed with a roof replacement. This highlights the impact that efficient, safe, and accurate thermal drone imaging can have on the commercial roofing process — and we always enjoy our role in the process.
Roofing companies that outsource infrared imaging to specialists like us benefit from the convenience of the process. For more information about why outsourcing to trusted drone service providers is recommended, take a look at this blog post.
