Insulating an apartment building is, for every owners’ association (SVJ), one of the biggest investments its members’ meeting will ever vote on. Projects worth several million crowns, years of preparation, negotiations with banks and grant applications - and yet the result sometimes still falls short of expectations. Thermal bridges remain, condensation forms in corners, and by the first anniversary damp patches appear on the walls. The answer is not a more expensive contractor or thicker insulation: it is precise information about the state of the building envelope before the first panel of insulation ever reaches the façade.
A thermographic inspection of the building, carried out by drone or from the ground, gives you exactly that information - without scaffolding, without disrupting the running of the building, and in a form you can act on immediately.
What thermal imaging reveals before work even begins
An infrared camera captures differences in surface temperature. Wherever the building is needlessly letting heat escape, or conversely wherever moisture has compromised the thermal insulation properties of the structure, a characteristic colour anomaly shows up in the image. For an apartment building, the following problem zones are typical:
Panel joints and construction seams
In panel-built buildings, the most at-risk points are the vertical and horizontal joints between the prefabricated panels. The original sealant degrades, the joint becomes a thermal bridge and, at the same time, a route by which moisture gets into the structure. Thermal imaging pinpoints these joints precisely - not a single centimetre is missed, because the image covers the whole façade at once.
Loggias and balconies
A loggia’s concrete slab, which passes from the interior to the exterior, forms a direct thermal bridge. A standard insulation design often fails to address it, or only partially. A thermal image shows the true extent of the heat loss and allows the designer to place a thermal break exactly where it is needed.
The parapet and roof covering
The transition from the façade to the roof parapet is another critical detail. Inadequate connection of the insulation, local dips in the roof membrane, or moisture accumulating within the roof build-up - all of this shows up in a thermal image before it causes visible damage to interior surfaces.
Window reveals and sills
Insulating the reveals - the jambs around windows - is a cheap but crucial detail. If a designer or contractor omits or underestimates it, the thermal bridge around the window frame will cause condensation on the inner edges and, in time, mould. Thermal imaging shows the exact location and intensity of this bridge before you decide on the thickness of insulation.
A thermographic report as the basis for a tender
An owners’ association committee going out to tender for an insulation contractor usually works from design documentation and technical standards. That is the basic framework - but a technical description in a bill of quantities will not tell you which areas are most affected, where insulation is a priority, and where a standard solution will do.
A thermographic report fills exactly that gap. It contains:
- Precise images of the whole façade - every elevation, every floor, every critical detail
- Annotation of problem areas - thermal bridges, moisture anomalies and gaps are numbered and described in the report
- Temperature differentials - you know exactly how many degrees colder the surface is at a critical point compared with the surrounding façade
- Priority recommendations - which locations require a special structural solution beyond the standard design
With this kind of supporting document, the committee can define the tender specifically: not just “insulate the façade according to the design”, but “insulate, including a thermal break at the loggia slabs, in line with the thermographic report dated…”. Contractors then cannot offer a cheaper variant that quietly skips these problems.
A thermographic report is also valued by grant advisers. Programmes such as Nová zelená úsporám or IROP (the Integrated Regional Operational Programme) for apartment buildings require evidence of the starting condition and proof of the benefit of the proposed measures. An expert report with infrared images meets this requirement better than any written description.
Quality control after the insulation work is finished
The work is done, the contractor has left, and the committee is taking delivery. How do you know the work matches the contract? A visual inspection will reveal surface defects - a badly jointed skirting strip or uneven render. What it will not reveal are faults hidden under the render: an interrupted layer of insulation, poorly taped joints between insulation boards, or missing expanding foam around window frames.
A thermographic inspection carried out in winter - ideally the first winter after the insulation work is complete - shows up these hidden defects. An infrared image reveals:
- Places where the insulation was poorly connected or interrupted
- Mechanically damaged areas where the insulation has lost contact with the substrate
- Details where the contractor skipped or reduced the insulation compared with the design
- Thermal bridges that were supposed to be broken according to the design, but were not
This image has evidential value. If the contractor refuses to accept a claim, the thermographic inspection report is a document that stands up with an independent expert and with the works’ warranty insurer. An owners’ association with photo documentation of the state of the building before and after the work is in a substantially stronger position in a claims process than one relying solely on the design documentation and the contract.
How an apartment building inspection works in practice
We carry out thermal measurements of apartment buildings both by drone and from the ground, depending on specific conditions - it depends on the building’s height, the surrounding development and the accessibility of the façades. For a standard eight-storey panel building, data collection typically takes two to three hours, and we deliver the processed report within seven working days.
Measurement conditions:
| Condition | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Outside temperature | Ideally below 5°C, at minimum below 10°C |
| Interior/exterior temperature difference | At least 10°C |
| Time of year | October - March |
| Sunlight on the façade | Measurement carried out early morning or after dark |
| Rain | At least 12 hours before measurement |
The result is a report with annotated thermal images of every façade, a summary and recommendations for next steps. The report is signed by a certified thermographer and ready to be presented to a designer, a construction contractor, or a grant adviser.
We recommend timing the first inspection roughly a year before the planned start of project preparation - the results will influence the design itself, not just its execution.
Prepare your owners’ association for insulation work with accurate data
If your committee is planning insulation work over the next two to three years, or if you have just completed insulation and want to be sure the contractor delivered what was agreed, we would be glad to prepare a thermographic inspection of the whole building for your owners’ association.
Send us an enquiry with the building’s address and a brief description of the situation - we will reply within 24 hours with an indicative quote and date. We tailor the inspection so that the report is ready exactly when you need it: before a tender, before submitting a grant application, or immediately after the work is handed over.