Dampness and leaks are among the most common problems that lead people to hire a home inspection (bedek bayit) engineer for construction defects. In winter, waterproofing the apartment becomes part of that too.
A home inspection locates the source of the leak and the waterproofing or dampness problem in the apartment. Professional treatment from a defects expert often prevents unnecessary repairs, pipe replacements or broken-open walls that turn out not to have solved the problem after all.
An engineer who specializes in waterproofing and leak detection brings deep professional knowledge and years of experience with dampness in apartments, and can pinpoint the source of a problem far more accurately than a technician sent to make a repair.
The professional eye of Arad's home inspection engineers is now joined by a reliable and precise work tool for leak detection: a thermal camera.
How the thermal camera works
The camera maps the area and divides it into zones by temperature. A zone that reads colder or warmer than the background points to a problem: cold points usually mean cold water, warm ones mean a leak from hot water piping.
A temperature difference does not always mean dampness or a leak, which is why reading the images correctly takes real skill and experience.
Below are a few examples of images taken in various apartments and houses:
Example 1:
This image shows the ceiling of a safe room (mamad) where water got in. The darkest area, dark blue, is where the dampness penetrated. Inspecting the bituminous membrane on the roof there turned up the crack responsible.
Example 2:
This one was taken in the floor of the master bedroom, where cold water piping ran through to the en-suite bathroom. At the dark blue spot, a hole in the pipe was causing the leak.
Example 3:
This image was taken on the upper wall of a child's room, an exterior wall built with the thermal method. The dampness comes in through the joint between the ceiling and the wall, and spreads downward from there in a funnel shape.
* A thermal camera test is not suited to every dampness problem. There is additional equipment suitable for different types of tests, and you should consult with the company's engineers before ordering this type of test.
The engineers of Arad Bedek Bayit, led by building engineer Ron Arad, whom courts appoint as their own expert on construction defects. The company has been inspecting apartments and buildings since 2001. Engineer Ron Arad · More about the company