Service for Columbus commercial properties
Wet insulation is invisible from the surface — until it has degraded the deck, voided the warranty, and turned a repair into a full tear-off. We scan commercial roofs with calibrated infrared equipment to map moisture before you commit capital.
A commercial roof can look intact on the surface while the insulation beneath is fully saturated. Wet insulation does not dry once it is sealed under a membrane — it holds moisture, conducts heat in both directions, accelerates membrane failure from below, and dramatically reduces the effective R-value of the assembly. By the time a facility manager at a Polaris office building or an Easton area retail center notices interior water damage, the insulation has often been wet for one or more full Columbus winter cycles.
Wet insulation is invisible from the surface — until it has degraded the deck, voided the warranty, and turned a repair into a full tear-off. We scan commercial roofs with calibrated infrared equipment to map moisture before you commit capital.
A commercial roof can look intact on the surface while the insulation beneath is fully saturated. Wet insulation does not dry once it is sealed under a membrane — it holds moisture, conducts heat in both directions, accelerates membrane failure from below, and dramatically reduces the effective R-value of the assembly. By the time a facility manager at a Polaris office building or an Easton area retail center notices interior water damage, the insulation has often been wet for one or more full Columbus winter cycles.
Service decisions are tied to leak history, roof age, membrane condition, drainage, tenant sensitivity, access, and the capital plan behind the property.
The next step is a repair scope, replacement budget, coating review, maintenance schedule, bid package, moisture survey, or immediate leak response plan.
Questions
The scan requires clear skies, ambient temperature at least 10 degrees below the daytime high, and adequate solar exposure during the day preceding the scan. Columbus winters have extended cloud cover periods that can delay scan scheduling by days. We watch the forecast after booking and confirm the scan night meets conditions before mobilizing. Spring and fall — May through June, and September through October — are the most reliable windows in central Ohio.
When scan conditions are met, correlation between thermal anomaly and confirmed wet insulation — verified by core sample — is typically above 85% in our Columbus experience. The scan can produce false positives where equipment, conduit, or other heat sources create warm readings that are not moisture-related, which is why we correlate thermal findings with core samples before drawing conclusions. We do not issue a scan report without core sample confirmation of the key findings.
Thermal scan data can document the extent of wet insulation resulting from a covered event — storm damage, sudden leaks, or equipment failure. We write the scan report to distinguish pre-existing moisture from event-related infiltration where the physical evidence supports that distinction. An adjuster or engineer can use our scan report and core sample correlation data as part of a damage assessment. We do not advocate for coverage outcomes — we provide documented findings.
Share the building address, roof history, current concern, timing, and access constraints. We will give you a practical next step for inspection, repair, maintenance, coating, or replacement planning.
Contact Commercial Roofers of Columbus