IRTalk.com - A Service of the Snell Group
Welcome to IRTalk.com Sign in | Join | Help
in Search

Reflective Low-Sloped Roofs

Last post 10-07-2008, 3:58 PM by John Snell. 3 replies.
Sort Posts: Previous Next
  •  05-05-2008, 5:56 PM 1436

    Reflective Low-Sloped Roofs

    I had a thought on a possible technique to inspect any reflective roof in general that I would like to get opinions on, whether it be TPO, PVC, acrylic coating, etc.

    This would not be feasible for an entire roof unless it was quite small with few protrusions, but it may be useful to determine the extents of damaged area on a known leak area.

    It might be possible to use a small sheet, say 20' by 20', of the thinnest available thickness of EPDM and lay the EPDM over the suspected damaged area. If you could get the EPDM to lay flat enough, the conductive heat transfer between the roof and EPDM might allow you to see the thermal signature of the damaged area once the EPDM has been given a little time to acclimate.

    Thoughts?

  •  05-05-2008, 7:49 PM 1437 in reply to 1436

    Re: Reflective Low-Sloped Roofs

    Attachment: Roof reflection.jpg
    Are you asking about white roofs, reflective of sunlight, or membranes that reflect infrared? Generally white roofs DO absorb plenty of radiation and heat up enough to show the trapped moisture. The problem I've had is with EPDM, which is fairly reflective in the long-wave infrared band (see below); with good conditions it is possible to inspect them but they are a pain, especially if they have ripples in them as the low points all collect dust and are not reflective vs. the high points which remain otherwise.


    Thermally Yours,

    John
    ASNT NDT Level III #48166
    The Snell Group
    www.thesnellgroup.com
    www.thermalsolutions.org
    800-636-9820
  •  10-07-2008, 8:03 AM 2020 in reply to 1437

    Re: Reflective Low-Sloped Roofs

    John, is it possible to know beforehand, by reading the manufacturer's stamp off the membrane and referencing something, whether the particular membrane that you're going to try to survey is going to cause problems with IR reflection?

    Dan


    Dan
  •  10-07-2008, 3:58 PM 2026 in reply to 2020

    Re: Reflective Low-Sloped Roofs

    You could certainly look at samples of membranes with the camera and get a good idea of how problematic they will be. It is mainly the single ply systems, especially EPDM, as well as aluminized coatings on built up roofs.
    Thermally Yours,

    John
    ASNT NDT Level III #48166
    The Snell Group
    www.thesnellgroup.com
    www.thermalsolutions.org
    800-636-9820
View as RSS news feed in XML

Live Webcasts, On-Demand Webinars, Online Learning