Infrared roof moisture detection
One evening scan reads the entire roof and shows where the insulation is wet, marked in paint on the surface and mapped in the report. Most leaking roofs are mostly dry, so owners use the map to repair the wet areas and keep the rest, and what that saves is usually the price of a new roof.
The same roof, seen in infrared
Drag the divider. In visible light the roof looks fine; in infrared, the warm areas are moisture trapped inside the insulation.
What the survey decides
Repair or replace
The map bounds the wet areas, so the scope of work matches the scope of the problem. Keeping the dry eighty percent of a roof is the difference between a line item and a capital project.
Before the money moves
Warranty expirations, real estate transactions, insurance claims after a storm, quality assurance on a new installation: each one is a decision about a roof someone cannot see inside. The survey is how the decision gets evidence.
When parties disagree
A moisture map from an independent firm that sells no roofing is documentation both sides of a dispute can accept, and it holds up in warranty and legal conversations.
How the survey works, in plain terms
All day, the roof absorbs sunlight. Wet insulation stores more of that heat than dry insulation, because water holds heat better, so after sunset, as the roof cools, the wet areas stay warm longest. On a suitable evening a certified thermographer scans the roof, reads those signatures, verifies them, and marks each wet area directly on the surface in paint or crayon. The report maps every finding for repair planning, claims, or legal documentation.
The survey runs to ASTM C1153, the standard practice for locating wet insulation with infrared imaging.
The camera works by hand or by drone. On a large, cut-up, or hard-to-access roof, a drone flight covers in minutes what a walking scan covers in hours, with the same thermographer reading the imagery.
A roof under ballast or pavers, or one that never gets a readable evening, goes to the nuclear gauge, which reads through everything in any weather. Impedance scanning is the third tool, for exposed membranes in daylight. All three are in-house, and the full comparison is at infrared vs nuclear.
Infrared survey questions
How does infrared find moisture in a roof?
Physics does most of the work. During the day the roof absorbs sunlight; wet insulation holds that heat longer than dry insulation. After sunset, as the roof cools, the wet areas keep radiating, and a thermal camera reads them directly. The thermographer walks the roof, confirms the signatures, and marks the wet areas on the surface itself, so the map on the report matches paint on the roof.
Why survey the whole roof instead of investigating the leak?
Because a leak tells you where water enters, not where it went. Insulation can be wet across areas that have never shown a drip, quietly cutting the insulation value, adding load, and spreading. The survey answers the question the leak cannot: how much of this roof is actually wet, and is this a repair or a replacement.
What does the roof need for an infrared survey to work?
A surface the camera can read (bare or coated membrane rather than ballast or pavers) and an evening that lets the roof release the day’s heat. Roofs under ballast, overburden or persistent unsuitable conditions go to the nuclear gauge instead, which reads through everything in any weather. Both methods are in-house; the roof decides.
Is there a standard for infrared roof moisture surveys?
Yes: ASTM C1153, the standard practice for the location of wet insulation in roofing systems using infrared imaging. Our surveys run to it, performed by certified thermographers.
Tell us about the roof
The membrane, what is on it, roughly how big, and what the survey needs to decide. If the roof calls for the nuclear gauge or impedance instead, that is what we will tell you; all three are in-house.