Building Envelope Inspections | Atlanta Infrared Electrical Testing

Building Envelope Inspections from Power Distribution Systems, LLC

The ‘building envelope’ is a term used in building science to describe the many building systems that protect the interior of your building from exterior elements. The building systems that make up the building envelope include: the roofing systems, exterior wall systems, air barriers, windows and doors, foundations, floors, and more. A building envelope inspection by PDS, then, is a survey completed by one of our building envelope experts of these different systems to not only ensure their integrity, but their ability to keep exterior elements out and interior elements inside. The ability to professionally test and evaluate the performance of your building’s envelope is quickly becoming essential for the proper management of today’s commercial and industrial structures.

Several Factors that Necessitate Building Envelope Inspection

Proliferating Government Regulations
New Construction Techniques and Materials
Rising Energy Costs
Growing Concerns About Occupant Health, and Escalating Litigation
Moisture Damage
High Heating and Cooling Costs

Infrared Thermography

Infrared thermography is the first proven non-destructive method for identifying moisture and energy loss. Discovering deficient areas within your facilities, reduce operating costs, and create more efficient building maintenance practices and reduce greenhouse emissions.

An appreciable amount of money can be saved by building owners and operators through the correct application and use of PDS Heat-Seeker Infrared Thermography Building Envelope Inspections. Timely investment in our Infrared Building Envelope Inspections can ensure the structural integrity and safety of your commercial or industrial buildings.

Thermography measures surface temperatures by using infrared video and still cameras. This equipment sees light that is in the heat spectrum. Images on the video record the temperature variations of the building’s skin, ranging from white for warm regions to black for cooler areas. The resulting images help us determine whether insulation is needed or not. They also serve as a quality control tool, to ensure that insulation has been installed correctly.

Thermographic Inspections

A thermographic inspection is either an interior or exterior survey. Your PDS energy auditor decides which method would give the best results under certain weather conditions. Interior scans are more common, because warm air escaping from a building does not always move through the walls in a straight line. Heat loss detected in one area of the outside wall might originate at some other location on the inside of the wall.

Following are the deficiencies that can be found through our building envelope thermography inspections:

Moisture Intrusion or Condensation

Virtually all the thermal envelope deficiencies identified by thermographic testing involve the conduction of heat through building materials or the penetration and emanation of air through gaps in the building envelope.

Exterior Insulation and Finishing Systems

The growing popularity of buildings using exterior insulation and finish systems has been accompanied by numerous cases of moisture-related structural damage. Water intrudes where sealings have begun to fail. Moisture is then trapped under the skin. Thermography is an invaluable tool to locate moisture.

Verification of Construction Detail

Thermography is being used with great success to verify bond beams and placement of reinforcing in concrete masonry unit walls. The solid portions of the wall change temperature more slowly than the rest. The inspection can be conducted anytime the wall is in a thermally transient condition, typically in the early evening as it cools down.

While these are just some of the items included in Power Distribution Solutions, LLC building envelope inspection, the building envelope has become an increasingly important building system as energy efficiency becomes more important. If your building’s envelope has never been inspected or it has been over a year since it was inspected, PDS can partner with you to perform the necessary inspection.

OUR SERVICES AREAS

If you are looking for a quality infrared electrical testing enterprise offering a diversified toolbox of solutions for systems dependability, systems operating programs, and systems safety standards…you found it. Give us a call today at 770-732-8824 and see what Power Distribution Solutions, LLC can do for you!