Hi infrared guys!!! i’m curious about this one
how can you tell if the water is comming in through the foundation if the basement is finished
-walls : drywall over spray foam insulation,
-Floors : finished + sub floor
can this be picked up by an IR since the surface measured is not in contact with the wather, if not how can you tell??
Water in Basement can come from many different places.
Bad windows on first floor .
Wind blown through the siding and then it runs down the Tivek and down inside the foundation wall .
Even can get into Basement from the roof .
Be very careful on telling where the moisture is coming from.
There is one ongoing in my area where they have spent a lot of time and money trying to fix this dampness in the basement .
Two year old 2 story home .
Many times when there is moisture intrusion in the basement it comes in through the connection between the footing and foundation walls. In this case the thermal pattern would only extend part way up the wall from the floor. If it’s leaking from the top of the foundation wall down it’s hard to say without doing an evasive inspection.
Picture’s and more info. such as age and style of the home would help.
thx peter, that’s what i tought, most of the time (if visible) you would ‘‘see’’ it in the floor area
thx!
Your welcome, good luck
Water usually drains downward and can be seen at the baseboards.
Sometimes you can even see areas of wet concrete or brick foundations, directly.
I always back up suspicious images with a water meter.
Basement water infiltration usually stands out like a sore thumb given the correct condition. Since getting a much higher resolution and higher sensitivity camera, those conditions have become very easy to obtain.
Here’s a few images of the latest basement water intrusions I stumbled upon. The first 2 are from water dripping from a pipe above(basement ceiling in the corner). The second 2-3 are from moisture coming through the foundation due to negative slope and water resting against the outer foundation wall. Both areas showed no visual signs of moisture meaning if I hadn’t used my IR camera I wouldn’t have noticed.
Any of you guys are always more than welcome to use any of the images I post on here should you ever have the need.
Any guys interested in attending a free moisture webinar tonight with Mr. Scott Wood and Peter Hopkins. 5pm Pacific (8pm Eastern) https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/525472576
Count me in. Thanks
I took the FLIR ITC Building Science course presented by Scott Wood about 4 years ago. This is an excellent opportunity to see a professional who really knows his IR. He may not be NACHI Infrared Certified:p:p:p:p:p:p but he’s good!!!
As did I, are you sitting in.
I enjoyed Scott’s class then, too.
This should be worthwhile.
No Peter, I just arrived in Kansas City this afternoon for the ITC Level I course and will be brushing up with my study guide and pigging out on some good old BBQ.
Enjoy the webinar, Scott is an authority of building science IR.
Is there a place(website) we can go to get a more advanced heads-up on free stuff like this? I’m a few to many hours late on getting the word… Wish I could have made it though!
Brandon, how wet were the exterior conditions? Had it been raining actively or for several days prior to the inspection. Good catch.
He isn’t a Level III, so he can still do Home Inspection! 
Well the first picture was just leaks from a pipe that was running above that corner. Who knows how long the leak had been active.
I’ll attach some images of the pipe that was running above the corner. You’ll notice the red area(plumbing pipe) running along the ceiling and into the corner, then the blue moisture areas going down the wall.
I always cut all the water in the house on at once and let warm(not hot, so I don’t run out) water run for about 10 mins. Then I do all my Infrared scans so I can see where the plumbing pipes are and if any are leaking. I also mark any drain lines that stand the chance of being punctured from hanging a new flat-screen TV with blue painters tape.
On the 2nd image, it had rained about 6-7 days before the inspection. The ground outside was dry but at a negative slope so the area was obviously adsorbing a good bit of moisture.
Patrick, take a look here: (This is the beta of next version of the site, not all links are not active, but this article is not on the old site…)
Infrared Inspections Of Basement Water Damage, Paragon Property Services Chicago
](http://www.paragoninspects.com/articles/infrared_top_page.php#3)
That’s a good looking site! Good illustrations and examples of everything.
Brandon -
What camera are youse using?
