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Do you have more information on this service?

I know that my favorite roadside diner uses an infra red heat lamp to keep my hamburger warm while my server person is on cigarette break.

Is there any particular benefit to scanning a roof with infra red? Pardon my ignorance.

If you describe the benefits of this mysterious service I might be wildly interested, but with the limited details you have provided I must unfortunately inform you that it is of no interest to me at this time.

Perhaps if you were to post your information in the advertising section you could explain the benefits and even some of the features including price.

Leland, there is a benefit where commercial roofing is concerned. On large expanses leaks can be pinpointed and just that area repaired. An infrared scan will find the moisture in the roof, which can then be cut out and replaced.

HI this is not advertising. It's actually market research. This is not a service that I currently offer. The investment in a decent infra red imager is no less than $5,000. Some imagers can be bought for less, but eh... You get what you pay for.   I am just trying to see if there is any sort of interest before making that investment in equipment and then promotion.

Forgive my lack of detail. I shouldn't have assumed everyone would know what it was.  The purpose is just like Chuch has said. IR roof scans are incredibly common in the commercial roofing market.  INfact the removal of any wet insulation or roofing material is a requirement for various lay-over or coating systems. However even if you are noting doing a restoration, it'll pin point any leaks known and unknown. 

Dummy me, I've seen this before, I just didn't realize it was "infrared". The water dry out companies use it to find/prove wet drywall.

If you want to start a business I would suggest you might be able to find a used one or factory reconditioned. Many times people buy something electronic and return it unused or very little used under warranty. These items become "factory reconditioned". I bought my GBS unit this way- it appeared brand new but it was cheaper.

You may also be able to lease the item. Many small businesses will go to a savings & loan or thrift & loan or just the equipment sellers/distributors leasing company. You could do a lease with a one dollar buy out clause at the end of the lease.

the technology is called Radiometric Infrared Thermography.

http://www.iranalyzers.com/ is a website for a company offering the service. apparantly it's also used for electrical issues etc etc. If you look at their website you will see other potential customers for your device.

You could probably contact every roofer, water dryout company, forensic engineer, construction defect expert, and attorney that work with these issues to see what the market would be.

But I guess that's why you are here.

I had no idea this was used on commercial roofs so often, I learn something everyday.

Maybe someone can tell us an exciting example of how this has been used.

This is off top, but I think it would be a great service to the industry. Wave wash claims have always been very costly to all the involved parties. Landfall of a hurricane is very exact several hours before the surge comes up on the land. Start the satellite before and after. Use the photo,s as evidence in the dispute about causation that always follows. If they can put a black box on aircraft this should be possible!

ray- it won't work from far away. the red wavelengths of light are very wiggly and don't travel far. Here's how to understand it- if you let sunlight go through a prism it will make a rainbow. One edge will be violet (purple) and the opposite edge will be red, with the other color stripes in between. There are two additional invisible "colors" on both sides. Next to the red is "infra red" and next to the violet is "ultra violet". The different colors each have different wavelengths and temperatures. Red is warmer than violet.

The violet side is longer wavelengths that are closer to straight. This is why ultraviolet will penetrate clouds and you can get a tan or sunburn on a cloudy day. The ultraviolet rays are straight enough that they penetrate into your skin and get the melanin excited and turn your skin darker. The ultraviolet can also penetrate the skin and get the cells to mutate and cause skin cancer. Ultraviolet is used to kill bacteria in water.

The red and infrared are on the other side of the spectrum. The red is a very squiggly wavelength which is good for warming up things. It warms up surfaces. You have seen infrared bulbs in bathrooms. The minute you turn it on it makes you feel warm. In physics, light and heat go together. Some things are more heat than light and some things are more light than heat. Red wavelengths are more heat producing than other colors. Doctors use infrared heat to warm up muscles. Because red wavelengths are so squiggly they don't travel far. That is why we were taught in the Army to look at maps at night by putting the red lens on the flashlight and crawling under a poncho. The enemy won't see the light very easily.

Because infrared doesn't travel that far you can't use it from a satellite.

This brings up another question in my mind. I know that autobody workers use special lights to cure paint, maybe they are infrared. Does anybody use infrared heat lamps to dry out properties?

All of that is very interesting and probably true.
However roof inspections for water intrusion using thermal imaging are done at night just after sunset and measure the delta t or temperture difference in roof areas. The thermal imager looks at the first one thousandth of an inch of the first encountered surface. No deeper than that. The image is always read in shades of gray, with no color. The image converts the shading to selected range of collors to demonstrate the differences in shades of gray.
William S Cook
Public Adjuster

My impression was that the thermal imager looks at the temperature gradient across the surface of the roof. I never thought that the infrared beam penetrated the roof or detected moisture, as such, in the roofing material or on the surface of the roof.

However, my experience is that the difference in temperature across the surface of the roof will vary with the presence of moisture in the roofing material. Of course the temperature of the roof surface will vary because of influences other than moisture in the roofing material.

Not all moisture in a roof is caused by a leak.

Do they also take images of the underside of the roof?