Negative or positive pressure to atmosphere helps locate water entry or where condensation will form

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John Cannamela
ASNT II Vibration/ Level II Thermographer
HVAC Journeyman
Owner ISC Building Diagnostics
http://www.infraredsurvey.com www.iscbuildingdiagnostics.com
jc@iscbuildingdiagnostics.com

Ron, 

first off, this is a great pic for education and discussion.

These are my guesses without being able to be on site and confirm anything.

1.      Right side of bottom balcony needs further diagnostics.

2.      The left side of each level, I am assuming a laundry room or storage room, is interesting.  The top level of the house seems to be enclosed (thermal barrier could be the patio itself).  So the cooler reading coming out of that room throws stuff off a little if that patio is in the thermal barrier.  On the flip side it looks like the windows are open, but who isn't saying they were closed all day and just opened later in the day. 

3.      The attic area.  I would double check for mositure, but would not be shocked to find nothing.  Stack effect, and that area probably is outside the thermal barrier.  It should be hotter.

I would further diagnose the storage room areas, both the hot ones (2) and the cold one (top one) to find out why they are varying in temps.  I would further diagnose the patio floors areas, as well as the right side of the bottom patio, and double check why the attic area is hotter.  As I previously stated it probably should be hotter.

What did you end up finding/diagnosing?

Jason Kaylor – JJ
VP of Specialty Products
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Hi Darrell,

A few questions about your issue with the stucco. Is there a weep screed where the stucco terminates above the parging (CMU block)? As you probably know, stucco absorbs water and must have an exit route, hence the weep screed, lack of this exit route, water will be confined in the wall, hence the bulging.  What is the age of the home?  Are there grading issues with the home? Any issues above the area - roof details missing, windows, doors?

 Even though you have not had rain recently, you have over the years and this is long term cylcing. With stucco, we don't always trust moisture meters sometimes we get readings "within the range" of 19 or below. We have done IR scans on numerous stucco homes (traditional three coat systems) and have been very successful. When the walls have been opened up we find rot, decay and sometimes mold.  Yet, when we use the moisture meter in the rotted framing members the readings are below the range.  Water enters, creates rot/decay/mold, and then dries out.

When conducting the IR scan - make sure you have had significant rainfall at least 48 hours before the scan.  Sky conditions should be partly sunny and wind less than 15 mph.  Please feel free to give me a call 215-355-6141.

 Donna

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Donna Arch

So scanning was done dry ... now I am curious. Are you going to tell us?

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Darrell Paul
Wood Frame Construction Specialist
Level I Thermographer
403-586-1950
www.qstat.ca

There is a weep screed (plaster stop) along the bottom. In this case I am looking at a wall that has not expereinced rain this year.

Taken 9:15 AM

You can see the buldge in the lower left portion of the visible light pictures

Stucco temperatures between 1.6 - 3.8 Celcius

Exterior temperature 9 Celcius,Interior 19 Celcius, Dew Point 0 Celcius, RH 54%

 Wind light 3-5 K/Hr

Sky clear overnight

 

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Darrell Paul
Wood Frame Construction Specialist
Level I Thermographer
403-586-1950
www.qstat.ca

Darrell:

The tradition method of finding delaminations is to tap on the side of the building ever few feet, and listen for dead sounds -which are voids in the substrate.

So much for tradition. One can survey even a large building using IR and techniques mentioned in this message string. You can even do high rises (sample attached), but you need to back-up quite a bit...which means you need a large array, a large telescope and some time stitching close-up shots together.

It is fairly easy to see delaminations if your timing is right. In the image below, look on the far left edge of the image and you will see the voids under the windows and along sharp edges (corners). They look like fuzzy cracks, etc. Notice many edges in the attached partial image a large building, are delaminated.

 

GRS

 

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Greg Stockton
Stockton Infrared Thermographic Services, Inc. and United Infrared
(800) 248-SCAN (toll-free)
(336) 498-GREG (voice)
(336) 689-3658 (cell)
www.StocktonInfrared.com
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