How to perform an assessment of your home with a Thermal Camera

How do I use the smart thermal camera attachments?

Our thermal cameras are designed to simply attach to your phone and can be used in minutes after downloading the FLIR ONE or HIKMircroViewer mobile applications from the relevant app store for your device.

When assessing your home, you are looking to identify significant differences in colour, either deep blues for cooler areas or bright reds for hotter areas. From these images, you can quickly start to assess where you're losing heat out of your property or identify draughts from room to room.

Check out this helpful guide from Doresoom Tool reviews too:

2. Where should I start when assessing my property?

It's recommended to assess your home at a time when you'll have the most significant difference in temperature between the inside and outside such as in the evening, when the heating is on.
It's a good idea to start outside your property to first asses any significant areas of heat loss to the outside that you can later investigate when inside.
Look around windows, doorways and particularly at your roof.
When inside, again be sure to check your main doorways and windows for any draughts. Next check any chimneys or fireplaces you have as well as assessing any draughts between rooms with doors closed.

After this you should have an idea of which areas you need to start addressing around your home

3. What should I be looking for in the heat images of my house?

This depends on whether you're assessing the inside or outside your property:

From outside your house - look for areas of bright red or white to signify where heat is leaking out
From inside your house - look for areas of dark blue to signify cooler spots show where cool air is coming in

It's best to check your property over winter months (November to February) when there's a greater contrast between inside and outside temperatures.

4. How should I improve the areas I've identified around my house?

Roof

If you've identified significant heat loss through your roof, you should investigate purchasing loft insulation.

This can be done yourself by purchasing loft insulation from your local DIY / Home improvement store such as these options from B&Q. Rolls are typically around £20 per roll and so depending on your home size, could cost as little as £100-200 to insulate.
https://www.diy.com/departments/building-supplies/insulation-damp-proofing/loft-insulation/DIY754091.cat If you don't fancy getting dusty, you can pay professionals to do the job for £300-600 depending on home size and your area.

Windows

If you've noticed heat loss around your windows, there's a number of improvements you can make before needing to consider the cost of double glazing

You can purchase a much cheaper alternative to double glazing by purchasing window insulation film that costs £10-20 and can be installed in minutes. Check out this helpful insulation guide here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6XPaA0oQnE

Doors

Heat loss around doors is one of the most common areas of draughts around the home, and is luckily one of the easiest areas to address.

Either fixed or cushion draught excluders can be easily installed at the base of your door to block draughts. Cushion draught excluders can be bought or made at home from old tights or socks filled with rice. See a helpful guide to making DIY draught excluders here.

Alternatively you can install a more fixed option onto the door so that it blocks draughts at all times and you don't need to remember to put it back against the door. You can either install removable foam sliders under your doors or brush strip like shown in this guide.

Finally, turning heating off in empty or unused rooms and closing doors is a simple way to heat only the rooms you need in your home.

Chimneys

Chimneys or open fireplaces can be a common source of heat loss from lounges or bedrooms and could be costing you hundreds of pounds each year.

A simple solution is to block your chimney with a chimney balloon (like this sold on amazon)for around £20 and can be installed in minutes.