Dave Lee here thanks for joining us for this episode of FLIR Delta. Today we’re going to talk about commercial roof inspections. Demographers have been using handheld thermal cameras to inspect commercial roofs for decades with drones, we used to take hours or even days can now be done in a matter of minutes, but just because it’s more efficient doesn’t mean it’s point-and-shoot. Easy here are just a few of the factors you need to keep in mind number one is the time of day. There are lots of opinions about the best time to fly a roof inspection, a thermography using a hand-held camera would inspect the roof about an hour.

After sunset, but that may not be possible without some kind of waiver, depending on the regulations where you fly, but there are ways to do effective drone inspections without flying at night by ensuring you don’t fly when there’s any solar load on the roof, for instance, if The Sun has gone behind adjacent buildings or trees, so the roof is in shadow. The thermal dynamics of a roof are constantly changing and the inspection window can be short, so use your drones imager to your advantage. By getting the shots you need quickly. Number two is whether flying in the right weather is just as important as flying at the right time of day cloud cover the amount of temperature change between day and night. Wind and rain all have an impact on the thermal data you can capture, but we rarely have the luxury of flying in perfect conditions.

So you need to learn how to get good results in less than ideal conditions. Number three: it’s not just for finding problems. Most people who think of flying roofs are thinking in terms of finding damage in the existing structures, but this is also a powerful tool for performing baseline surveys that can confirm the proper installation of roofing materials on new buildings or in rebuilt roofs, also, not all thermal Anomalies are issues that require repair different roofing materials and different wear patterns can produce different thermal signatures. That may look like water under the membrane, but really aren’t always know your local regulations and work with a licensed roofer or roof inspector to provide clients with accurate actionable data. Number four is flight parameters.

How you fly the roof? Inspection matters tremendously to the results. You’Ll achieve your height over the roof. The look down angle of the camera and the speed over the ground will all impact the quality of the images you can capture and the utility of that data. That comes with them, for instance, you may be able to legally fly high enough to capture the entire roof in a single image, but are you going to get enough detail and an image to be useful?

Maybe maybe not? There are lots of variables to consider. Also roofs often have nearby trees and powerlines. That can end your flight prematurely and you can easily fly out of line of sight when examining a large roof, so proper crew coordination with your visual observer is essential. There is always more to learn so check out.

Itc’S courses on drone, thermography, roof inspections and building Diagnostics to make sure you’re up to date on the latest industry standards and best practices. Thanks for watching this episode of FLIR Delta keep checking back for new episodes.