While hidden during the day, water under a roof membrane and escaping heat are instantly visible in the infrared spectrum. A radiometric survey identifies these issues early — turning what could be a costly replacement into a manageable repair.
Because wet flat-roof insulation retains the day's heat, it glows against the cooler, dry field around it after sunset. An infrared survey maps this exact moisture footprint — allowing you to patch only where the water is, rather than tearing off a roof where it might be.
Missing insulation, failed seals, and thermal bridging appear as warm scars on a cold facade. While Chicago winters force most aerial work to go quiet, that severe indoor-to-outdoor temperature difference provides exactly the thermal contrast that makes a building envelope survey legible — the ideal season to fly.
A follow-up survey flown after a repair provides immediate proof of success — the thermal anomaly is either gone, or it is not. Before-and-after radiometric pairs let you close out a project with definitive evidence instead of mere assurance.
A thermal survey is only as good as the temperature differential it is flown in. Roof moisture surveys fly after sunset, once the dry field has shed its heat and wet insulation has not. Envelope surveys fly in cold weather with the building heated. Scheduling around those windows is part of the job — a scan flown at the wrong hour produces confident-looking imagery of nothing.
Every thermal frame is paired with a visual-spectrum frame of the same view, so an anomaly can be checked against what the surface actually shows.
| Sensor | 640 × 512 radiometric thermal (DJI Mavic 3T) |
|---|---|
| Paired capture | 48 MP visual-spectrum, same gimbal |
| Deliverable | Annotated radiometric imagery with located anomalies, paired with visual-spectrum frames of the same views. |
| Turnaround | Delivered within 5 business days of the flight |
| Pricing | Quoted per project — same-day number for most work |
Thermal flies under the same discipline as the facade and envelope work — same preflight planning, same airspace compliance, same annotated deliverable format your engineer or roof consultant can reference directly.