Understanding the Role of Thermal Imaging in Vancouver Home Inspections

Home inspections are primarily visual, with the inspector surveying the visible parts of the home for signs of disrepair and other issues. Due to visual inspections primarily relying on visible parts of the home there are often things hidden behind walls or under floors that can go overlooked during a home inspection. Thankfully there are various technological solutions that can help a home inspection be more complete. In today’s blog we will be looking at the role of thermal imaging in Vancouver home inspections and how this can help home inspectors see into the less visible areas of a home for a more complete and informative inspection.

What is Thermal Imaging?

Thermal Imaging involves using a specialized camera that can detect warm and cold heat signatures and display them visually. The camera does this by taking the infrared radiation emitted by an object and rendering it as an image. Thermal images tend to be displayed in bright colors, with reds, oranges and yellows representing the sources and intensity of heat and cooler colors like green, blue and purple representing varying degrees of cold.

Why should your home inspector make use of Thermal Imaging?

Thermal Imaging is a non-invasive, quick and easy way to enhance a home inspection, allowing the inspector to get a more in depth look at the state of the home without needing to do anything that may damage the property like putting holes in the walls. Thermal Imaging can help Inspectors determine if there are leaks with either the plumbing or HVAC system as it can detect warning signs of leaks within a properties foundation, walls, attics and other hard to see places.

When conducting a thermal imaging inspection, the inspector will pass the camera along the surface of the interior and exterior walls, ceilings, floors and all other accessible areas of the property. Water and moisture absorb heat energy, which causes them to show a cool or cold signature when viewed with a thermal imaging camera. Because the climate in Vancouver is so moist extra attention needs to be devoted to ensuring there are no leaks on the property.

Thermal Imaging can provide the necessary information to determine of any moisture is getting into or building up in the property. It is important to note that thermal Imaging is not a replacement for a standard home inspection and should be treated as another element of the overall home inspection rather than an inspection in and of itself.

We hope that we have been able to show you how thermal imaging helps home inspectors get a more complete picture of the state of a home and how that can help you better understand what you are getting when buying a home. If you have any questions about the home inspection process or are looking to get a home inspection performed in Vancouver or the greater Vancouver area please contact us at The Inspectors.

The Inspectors is a group of very experienced home inspectors who bring reliability and integrity to the practice of home inspection. These inspectors follow closely the established standards of the Canadian National Association of Certified Home Inspectors.

If you have any questions about this article or would like to talk to us about home inspection, we encourage you to call us at (778) 788-5301.