It is crucial to be aware of the wear and tear occurring to your roof, whether it’s a commercial or residential property. This allows you to prevent future major problems that stem from a small issue.
Reasons that may required roof inspections are as below:
Leak assessment:
Leaking roof from cracks sustained from either deterioration or physical damage will cause a leak during the rain; causing water damage in the interior.
Warranty protection
Warranty agreements usually will need owners to have a scheduled routine roof inspection in order to prevent warranty void.
Preemptive inspection
Regular checks will show you the weathering patterns of the roof, this allows you to perform maintenance such as waterproofing or painting, preventing corrosion and leaking.
Weather damage check
Roof material will deteriorate over time if maintenance is not performed regularly. Inspection helps owners to check for problematic areas early which repair work usually costs less than the deterioration that may grow after some time.
Draining problem
Clogged drains are major problems that can cause devastating damage if left unchecked. Water build-ups will leak out the gutter and the spillover will travel to unwanted places such as machineries and fragile materials. A routine roof inspection can spot debris stuck in the drains.
Solar panel installation
Installation of solar panels requires inspection to be eligible according to governmental ordinances. The roof needs to be angled to the right direction, clean, sturdy and large enough to install enough solar panels for the best investment return. Performing an inspection allows the owner to make sure all the criteria are met.
Maintenance-caused damage
Untrusted contractors hired for roof repair jobs may have potentially caused damage during the job and kept it hidden from the owners. Either intentional or accidental, the owners should do a check on their side to prevent unaccountable damages.
Utilising Drones to Inspect roof on buildings
A drone for roof inspection job provides tons of benefits, including speedy process, less labour needed, reduced risk, and good ROI for owners and contractors. Top contract and property owners around the glove are integrating drone for roof inspections and these are the reasons:
Accuracy
Human error is an inevitable issue that will occur in many professions. Hence, using a machine such as a drone can cut down the possibility of human error in roof inspection. A drone can take high-detailed images and create accurate results consistently. High-end drones such as DJI Enterprise are equipped with automated flight paths settings that allow the roof inspector to reduce human error such as missing out some part of the roof.
Time
Roof inspections with a drone can cut down the time needed compared to using traditional manual labour. Roof inspectors in the past were required to scale the high rise building to perform checking, this requires measuring the height and figuring out how to get up to the roof. In the present, roof inspectors who are equipped with a drone can stay on the ground and send the drone to do the scanning and data recording. With DJI Enterprise drone, both 2D and 3D models of the site can be generated instantly; making inspection faster than ever before.
Safety
Roof inspection is aimed to improve the building safety, which means you don't want people to get hurt in the inspection process. With drone aerial photography, you can get high resolution photos of the roof from different angles with ease where humans can’t physically reach without elevation equipment or helicopters. For instance, taking photos from the roof that may be slippery or fragile when body weight is applied. Using a drone allows you to maneuver around the air, scanning the roof from limitless angles.
Cost
Drone may be seen as a hefty investment at first glance. However, the ROI for long term usage is strong. Contractor can reduce labour costs, insurance payout, and machinery such as a boom lift. Moreover, jobs can be done quickly which allows more inspection jobs to be done in a day and take on more inspection jobs than is possible without drone assistance.
Choosing the right DJI Drones and Payloads for roof inspection
DJI Phantom 4 RTK are built for low-altitude inspection and mapping. This drone is equipped with a centimetre-level positioning system, automated flight paths settings, easy GS RTK Application. Paired with the suitable camera payload such as Zenmuse L1, Zenmuse P1, and Zenmuse H20 series, the roof inspection job can be done accurately and quickly. Besides, mapping software such as DJI Terra allows you to create 3D and 2D models of the site. Providing pinpoint accuracy for mapping tasks.