Thermal testing of building envelopes

Averaged heat transfer resistance of the building envelope is the primary parameter that determines the energy saving characteristics of the building. At the phase of the building design it is usually taken into account that building must preserve heat effectively. It is mostly important in northern countries where cold seasons last for more than a half of year. Usually infrared methods are used to find mechanical defects of the building envelope. In this article an alternative way to describe the building envelope using infrared camera is presented. The method includes the determination of local heat engineering characteristics of the envelope using contact measurements and the determination of averaged heat transfer resistance of the buildings envelope using its infrared image.