Michigan-based Reveal Inspection, a recently launched company, today (Oct. 9, 2006) announced it had begun using infrared imaging systems to discover locations of water leaks and energy losses during building inspections.

Company owner Ken Shay said he uses thermal cameras that measure infrared energy to detect differences between hot and cold spots in subject properties. A water leak, for example, usually will show up as a cold area against an otherwise passive or warmer background; energy losses likely will show up as a warm area against a colder background. The benefit of infrared technology, he claims, is that it can "uncover flaws not readily visible to the naked eye."

According to FLIR Systems, which manufactures the cameras used for Reveal's inspections, "thermal, or infrared energy, is light that is not visible because its wavelength is too long to be detected by the human eye; it's the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that we perceive as heat."

Inspectors also can use infrared to identify structural flaws, missing or inadequate insulation, electrical problems and even rodent and pest invasion, Shay says. Infrared images and details of how thermal camera inspections work are available on the company's web site, www.revealinspection.com.