Between you, me and the walls

I had an agent call me today to see if I can help solve an issue with an old factory that has been converted to loft apartments. The tenants claim that they can hear each other (snoring etc,) through the walls. He was hoping that I could determine if insulation might be missing in the walls with IR. I told him that I need a Delta T and that the logistics of creating such, for the interior walls at this time of year, might be a challenge. Does anyone have any experience with something such as this? Suggestions? I suggested that he might be better off with a decibel meter.

What kind of camera are you using?

Open a window and turn on the heat.
Bring your own heat.

Do you know how to calculate R-Value with IR?

Your kidding, right?

If there are receptacles or switches in the wall you could take off the cover and use a videoscope to verify. IR will likely not work very well unless you can get the AC or heat higher then the interior of the wall. Pretty tough to do. A decibel meter may work but if they are complaining then that pertty well answers the question. Hope this helps a little.

No it’s not, unless your using an I5.

I have done industrial insulation inspections on new construction and the building didn’t have doors or windows yet. Not a problem…

See the missing insulation through the concrete?

Blue is water by-the-way.

David, no I don’t know how to make those calculations and am using a Flir B50. We talked about heating/cooling the interior walls but it may not be logistically possible with tenants and 50+ furnished units. I realize that IR may not be the solution here. We thought of Greg’s idea but the videoscope results would be limited.
Any other ideas/solutions?

Bring your own heater and warm the wall on one side.

You have a camera that will work just fine.
You don’t need no 20 degree delta to see insulation. It’s just a better Idea if you could.

Your indoors, no wind, no sun. Your Golden!

Man you are in Canada take a helping hand from mother nature like david said heat one side to just normal temp 70 /75 degrees and throw the windows open on the other side you will have more Delta T than you possibly could use. Fly me up and I will do it for you:D:D

Thanks guys! I get them to open a window… It’s supposed to get cold next week!

The guy is wasting money IMO. I would simply open up a wall and see in a few units. If more than one neighbor has this same complaint then he has a problem which needs corrected.

Old factory loft.
I would bet there is no insulation.

Missing insulation might be only part of the problem. Other aspects of sound control that I have seen missed on institutional (hospital) and industrial (nuclear power plant) are airsealing at penetrations/cracks and “flanking” sound.

FLANKING SOUND:
At the hospital where I was called in to consult, the engineer/site super wanted to blow the steel stud walls around the adminstrator’s office to kill sound (his conversations could be heard in surrounding rooms). I suggested that the larger HVAC ducts serving the whole administration area should have had interior duct liner for sound control. They did blow the walls and 3-4 weeks later did the duct liner as the insulation had some effect but not what was desired.

And you own a thermal camera?!

Guess you don’t know how or when to use it…

How much of the wall do you expect to tear down?

The reason to use TI is to inspect the extent of the issu, not just that there is an issue.

“Wasting money”?
Are you ready to sell your camera on ebay yet?

Maybe you should take John’s course?

If your charging more for IR than it costs to tear holes in several apartments and fix them, maybe you need to adjust your IR fees!