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[Ron C. Bibler]

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[Kevin A. Richardson]

Originally Posted by Ron C. Bibler

I have been looking around the net and talking to other inspectors around the country. and all i get is how bad IR is. and that it has NO place in the home inspection world.

Is NACHI the only place for IR?

best

ron

Just to name a few:

www.itinetwork.net
www.irinfo.org
www.infraspection.com
www.buildscanir.com
www.infrared-certified.com
www.infraredtraining.com

Have you obtained any profesional Thermography training? It's vital that if you are going to use IR technology in your Home Inspection business that you get properly trained.

Kevin

[David A. Andersen]

As you cruise through the Internet you will see just how bad infrared thermology is in the hands of irresponsible operators.

You see scans posted on the websites of alleged thermal anomalies indicating heat loss from a home, and there's nothing there!

The more you learn, the more you learn how much you don't know!

It takes a responsible home inspector/thermologist to keep things in proper perspective. You can tune a thermal scan to make something look like a forest fire!

The great thing about NACHI is that you have some very good inspectors here that know about construction of buildings. Give them an infrared camera and they can work wonders! You can use the IR camera for a whole lot of different applications, but if you don't know (or are not supervised by someone who knows) the components you are inspecting you just can not do an adequate job on your own.

You need baseline photographs (which no one has in a residential structure) or comparison photographs (which are not always available). So, we take images and stick them on the bulletin board and try to provide as much background information as possible and get other inspectors opinions.

Working as a group has always made NACHI successful!

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by Ron C. Bibler

I have been looking around the net and talking to other inspectors around the country. and all i get is how bad IR is. and that it has NO place in the home inspection world.

Is NACHI the only place for IR?

best

ron

Inspectors who talk against IR for home inspections usually have some or
all of the following traits.

1- Don't own a camera and don't want to be talked into the expense of
purchasing one.

2- Will say they can find moisture problems without an IR camera just as good.
(which in some cases is impossible, unless you ran a moisture meter over everything).

3- Think the SoP protects them and doing anything above the SoP will only expose
them to a rush of law suites (their predictions of doom never play out).

4- Think that if moisture is not visible, then the client will not sue them (but fail to
realize that people are not rational once they become angry and feel you should
have found the moisture defect, visible or not). Finding more defects will reduce
your liabilty, not increase it.

5- They site the mistakes of untrained thermographers as the reason
that an IR camera will get you into trouble. (a lack of training in any field will get
you into trouble, not the tool itself).

InterNACHI promotes education, and training for inspectors above any association
in the world. IR is about to reach critical mass and you will see a huge wave of
inspectors start using this tool more and more. I am starting to see this wave in the
Dallas - Ft Worth area here in Texas.

Those who market in areas that are aware of the benefits of IR, and try to compete
with the local IR inspectors, find themselves trying to explain to their clients why IR is
not important. It's hard to undo people's mind to the benefits of IR, once the public
becomes aware of what it really does.

THERMAL IMAGING NEWS:

U.S. Department Of Energy Now Recommends
That A Thermographic Scan Be Done Before
Purchasing A House, Even On New Homes

Realtors Pushing Infrared & Energy Inspection

Chigago Sun-Times: Newest Technology
For Home Inspections Is Thermal Imaging

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by dandersen

The great thing about NACHI is that you have some very good inspectors here that know about construction of buildings. Give them an infrared camera and they can work wonders!

The key. Well said.