I have been asked to quote a moisture inspection on a commercial EPDM flat roof. I have a General deep sensing (2 inches deep) moisture meter and am thinking of marking off rows to scan (chalk line?) to make sure I test every area and can document it and where, if any moisture is found below the surface, of course photographing any high moisture readings and contrasting it with the dry areas or average moisture percentage found. Any ideas on how to conduct this inspection and to best document it are greatly welcome.
Jeff Bonner
Personally, I would not do it without a great quality thermal imager at the correct time to see the most contrast. But good luck if you decide to go ahead without one.
Here is a link I found. It may provide some insight and support @lkage advice.
Moisture in a roof system is done with an IR imager, not a moisture meter.
Good advice ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thank you for that great advice! I don’t need to get in trouble by missing a big moisture pocket! I declined that job and referred the roofer to another inspector who has an infrared thermal camera. I’m going to be checking in a lot more often in the future!
Jeff
You can not do EPDM with with a moisture meter. It is a conductive roof material and will just peg out your meter everywhere.
If you don’t like thermal, nuclear is your next option.
Do you know how long it will take you with a standard moisture meter? It will probably rain two times before you get done.
For this type of inspection contact a commercial thermographer and offer to be his helper for a fee…
Just be careful handling it…