Italy has, arguably, some of the best historical architecture in the world, so the preservation of these important cultural buildings is vital.

An Altamura based survey company called IR HotSpot has been set up to directly focus on investigating historical buildings using thermography equipment. This allows these iconic buildings to be preserved and maintained without any complicated invasive investigation taking place beforehand.

Also, it ensures that any small unseen problems can show up on the thermal image and can be dealt with before it can develop into something serious.

Rosario Piergianni, a thermography expert at IR HotSpot loves that there are so many issues a thermal imager can detect and all completely non invasive, making it a safe method of diagnosis for the buildings.

As a non contact measurement tool, a thermal camera can detect sub surface cracks, water damage and many other problems that historic buildings suffer with.

With sculptures and fescos often being very fragile, regular building inspection techniques can cause them to become damaged or to deteriorate.  This is one reason which makes thermography such a fantastic piece of technology for this kind of diagnosis.
As part of their daily routine, IR HotSpot need to be able to detect the following issues on a regular basis:

  • Moisture presence due to condensation or capillary rise
  • The presence of mould below the surface
  • How well the adhesion between the plaster and the structure is performing
  • Any hidden cracks
  • Earthquake damage
  • Airflow around works of art
  • The build up of anthropogenic surface deposits caused by pollution
  • And study the process of disintegration of building materials including calcarenite or dune limestone.

However, not all thermal cameras are capable of doing this job, one to perform inspections such as those specified above need to have a high sensitivity in order to detect even small temperatures in surface temperatures.

If you are interested in performing building thermography services or already are and are looking for a camera upgrade, take a look at the Flir B660 thermal camera. It is a great model that has been packed with some exciting features.

Written by Sara Thomson