Our MD Bryan Hindle attended a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) session in Manchester last Thursday night. The two-hour session was organised by the North Western section of the Green Register. This ‘Bite-Size’ CPD was thermal imaging for use in building insulation surveys.
Entitled ‘Mind the gap’, in reference to one of the purposes of using thermography; to find the gap between ‘as-designed’ and ‘as-built’. The event was a great success. The venue was the prestigious Manchester studio of award winning architects Sheppard Robson. SR kindly supplied the meeting space for Green Register and a very posh selection of biscuits, which went down very well.
Once a building is completed, the first signs of insulation or air leakage problems may be mould growth, occupier discomfort or moisture damage. Thermal imaging allows trained professionals to find hidden defects quickly, without invasive opening-up. The technology is growing in popularity as the cost of thermal cameras comes down. However, all tools need to be used properly; training and continuing development of skills is essential.
Mind the gap, was presented by thermal imaging consultancy and training specialists iRed. Director Ray Faulkner and senior trainer Bruce Arnold took the floor over two sections. Ray covered the first session, which was an introductory guide to thermography in the built environment.
As Bryan is already an experienced level 1 thermographer, this was really just a re-cap, however, there is nothing wrong with going over the basics now and again and it was still interesting and helps to embed basic fundamental knowledge. It was also a chance for those who are new to thermography, to get an idea of the flexibility and power of modern thermal imaging. The group of Architects, technologists and surveyors present certainly took lots away from Ray’s excellent talk.
After coffee Bruce explored Bryan’s favourite topic of damp diagnosis, using thermography. Bruce demonstrated how he is expanding quantitative thermal analysis, using thermal indexing and U value calculations. This allows a thermographer to highlight areas of concern; particularly useful for building control bodies and end-users. This is cutting edge stuff and Bryan was delighted to learn from Bruce, who was engaging, enthusiastic and open to sharing his ideas and experience – great stuff.
Green Register CPD for newbies and experts too
Overall, the bite-size event was part beginner’s thermography and part advanced/practicing too. There was something for everyone who attended. Green register is to be commended for putting this on. Bryan is already keen to attend more events and recommends ‘Bite-Size’ sessions to other busy professionals, as well as the rest of his team at Brick-Tie Preservation.
Brick-Tie preservation surveyors are all equipped with Flir thermal imaging systems, ranging from E5’s to T420bx models. All of them are trained and competent to use this equipment to help identify and quantify building defects, related to damp and condensation. Asked if thermal imaging had impacted on his company’s daily work Bryan said “The range of Flir tools has added another vital layer of information from building surveys. We can reach accurate decisions on the hidden causes of dampness. Thermography informs our choice of interventions too and has played its part in our growing reputation for excellence.”
For surveys or information about thermal imaging in Yorkshire call us now on Leeds 265 2752 York 566577 or Sheffield 224 5121 or email us about damp via our contact page, or learn more about our damp and timber services from the dedicated pages below.
Here is a video from a survey, which illustrates how we use Flir technology in Yorkshire. This method helps clients differentiate between dampness caused by condensation and that due to rising damp.
For further details of our survey services please visit our damp and timber consultancy page. We’d like to thank Green Register, iRed and Sheppard Robson for the training opportunity they enabled for us. Please visit their web sites for further information.
