WestCon Tribune

MARCH 15, 2006 MEETING
INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY
AND ITS USE IN CONSTRUCTION DEFECT INVESTIGATIONS
PRESENTED BY: SCOTT WOOD,
FOUR STAR CLEANING AND RESTORATION BUILDING SCIENCE INSTITUTE

Infrared thermography has been available since the 80s, but not until recently has it been used extensively for building investigations. Four Star Cleaning and Restoration started using thermography 3 years ago for water intrusion and construction defect detection. That same year The Building Science Institute was established and has been exclusively providing a unique certification in Building Science Thermography. Hundreds of infrared inspections later we have documented and explored many aspects of infrared thermography for building investigations.

Our speaker for the March meeting, Scott Wood, developed the current program using infrared thermography at Four Star as well as performed numerous inspections. The knowledge base has been used in creating the program for the certification from the Building Science Institute. Scott will present a brief overview of how infrared thermography works and what is “viewed” by the camera. He will also discuss building investigations he performed using infrared thermography as an investigative tool, showing examples of infrared thermography as it applies to construction defects.

Scott is the Technical Director of Four Star Cleaning and Restoration, a turn-key services restoration Company. Since its inception in 1971, Four Star has successfully completed over 10,000 projects in water, mold and fire restoration, construction as well as providing moisture intrusion consulting. In addition Mr. Wood is the primary instructor for the Building Science Institute, creating and maintaining the institutes’ instructional materials.p> Mr. Wood has published several articles on Infrared Thermography; including “Using Thermography to Find a Class of Latent Construction Defects” presented at the 2005 InfraMation and 2006 Thermal Solutions conferences.