Thermographic survey

Thermography turns the thermal performance of the envelope into pictures. An infrared camera surveys the elevations with a working temperature differential between inside and out - commonly five to ten degrees or more - typically externally at dawn or dusk to escape solar loading, interpreted per the recognised methodology. Missing or slumped insulation, thermal bridges, air leakage paths and moisture all announce themselves as hot or cold signatures against the background fabric, and the camera is ruthless about gaps the eye cannot see.

Conditions are everything, and the survey that ignores them lies. The differential must be real and steady; the fabric dry; sunshine and recent rain excluded; reflections from neighbouring glazing understood for what they are. With the blower door running, depressurisation pulls leakage paths into relief and the survey doubles in value. An experienced thermographer reads the picture in context; a novice reads colours - interpretation is the service being bought, and the report states its own limitations honestly.

Thermography is qualitative, and that is its power: it does not measure U-values, it locates defects - which is exactly what remediation needs. Surveys provide continuity-of-insulation evidence increasingly requested alongside energy compliance, diagnose condensation and cold-bridge complaints, and verify repairs by re-imaging. Combined with air tightness testing, it is the fabric's X-ray: non-destructive, fast, and honest about everything the finished building is hiding.