Pest control company using thermal imaging

BOHNERS LAKE In the pest control business, the first step before eradication is detection. And Charlie Roy of Ants Away Pest Control has a tool that makes that job a lot easier: a thermal imaging gun.

In 1998, after working for a national company, Roy started his business which was based in Racine until he moved to Bohners Lake in December.

About two years ago, Roy started using infrared imaging, also called thermal imaging, to find likely places for insects to hide.

It all started when Roy attended a seminar.

This was about home inspection, and they were talking about moisture meters, he said.

Roy did some research and learned in the West and South, where termites can be a problem, some companies were using thermal imaging to find them.

(Termites) will develop a heat in the walls, he said.

Infrared sensors measure radiation emitted by objects, explained Erin Callahan of Portland, Ore.-based Flir Systems, maker of the thermal imaging equipment Roy uses. When an object is wet it emits radiation at a different rate than its surroundings, she said.

Roy demonstrated that with a slab of drywall hed soaked in water overnight. His infrared gun showed water had crept above where the drywall looked wet.

The moisture meter he placed against it, part of his $2,500 kit, confirmed the wetness hidden inside that section of drywall.

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Pest control company using thermal imaging