Drone & Thermal Roof Inspection in Corpus Christi, TX

Drone & Thermal Roof Inspection in Corpus Christi, TX

We photograph the whole roof from the air, pull a thermal map of the wet insulation hiding under the membrane, and only send a person up where the data says to look.

What a Flight Sees That a Walkover Misses

A distribution center off the I-37 freight corridor, a refinery tank-farm office near the Ship Channel, or a big-box anchor along South Padre Island Drive can spread well past a hundred thousand square feet of low-slope roof. Inspecting that on foot is slow, it grinds wear into the membrane with every step, and an inspector standing on the surface still reads acres of field from shoulder height, where shallow ponding rings and hairline seam separation just do not register. A drone changes the vantage point. One high-resolution aerial pass captures every drain sump, scupper, expansion joint, pitch pocket, and equipment curb at uniform altitude and overlap, so no corner of the field gets skipped because the light faded or the crew wore out.

A Record You Can Actually Compare Year to Year

For a facilities manager carrying several buildings across the Coastal Bend, the aerial set is worth as much for its consistency as its detail. Fly the same roof next year and you can lay the images side by side and see what moved, what blistered, and what is starting to pond, instead of trying to reconcile two sets of handwritten walk notes taken by two different people. That repeatable baseline is what turns inspections from a yearly expense into a planning tool.

The Thermal Camera Is the Real Payload

Aerial photos are useful, but the infrared sensor is what earns its keep on a Corpus Christi roof. Dry insulation and waterlogged insulation hold heat differently: the wet board absorbs the day's solar load and then bleeds it back slowly long after sundown. We time the infrared pass for the evening cool-down, and the saturated areas light up warmer than the dry field around them, drawing a moisture map even where the membrane overhead looks flawless. That single image drives the most expensive decision on any aging roof, the call between a spot repair, a recover, and a full tear-off. A roof that looks healthy from the parking lot can be hiding a quarter of its insulation soaked from years of slow flashing and seam leaks, and the thermal scan is how that gets proven before a dollar goes toward the wrong scope.

We do not stop at the picture. Infrared shows a temperature pattern, not a guaranteed puddle, so we confirm every flagged zone with a physical core cut. The core tells us how deep the moisture runs, whether the facers have delaminated, and whether the steel deck below has started to corrode. The report then rests on samples you can hold, not on a heat signature alone.

Documentation an Adjuster Will Accept

This is hurricane and hail country, and after a Gulf storm the paperwork is half the fight with a carrier. Aerial imagery geotags and time-stamps the damage, letting an adjuster see hail-bruise density, wind-lifted membrane, displaced edge metal, and battered rooftop units without ever climbing the building. We assemble it into the format commercial property carriers expect, annotated overhead maps tied to location-tagged close-ups, so the claim moves on evidence rather than argument. When a named storm or a hailstorm rolls through, inspections tied to an active claim jump to the front of our schedule, because the window to document fresh damage closes fast.

Flying Legally in This City's Airspace

Putting a drone over a commercial building for pay is regulated work, not a weekend hobby, and it operates under FAA Part 107, the federal rule set that governs who may fly, where, and under what conditions. That matters more here than in most cities. The industrial waterfront and the refinery and petrochemical belt along the Ship Channel sit in or beside controlled airspace tied to Corpus Christi International Airport and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, and parts of it fall inside facility security perimeters. Before a single rotor spins we check the airspace classification, pull any authorization the location requires, keep the aircraft inside visual line of sight, and stay off any unbriefed people below. On a secured refinery or port site we set the access and the flight window with facility security in advance so the survey happens cleanly and within the rules.

From Inspection to a Buildable Scope

A flight only matters if it sharpens the next decision. Before we put a reroof or recover proposal on paper, the survey pins down the true roof area, confirms the count and exact location of every penetration and curb, and records existing conditions for the drawings. When the specification is built on measured reality instead of a tape-measure guess, there are fewer surprises mid-project, fewer requests for information, and fewer change orders once a crew is on the deck. Across a portfolio, that same data lets us rank which roofs need capital now and which can ride another season, so the budget follows the moisture instead of the squeakiest tenant.

What a Drone Inspection Includes

• High-resolution aerial mapping of the full field, drains, seams, penetrations, and perimeter details
• Evening infrared thermal pass to locate moisture trapped inside the insulation
• Confirming core cuts at flagged zones to verify depth, facer condition, and deck corrosion
• Geotagged, time-stamped storm documentation formatted for commercial property claims
• Accurate roof area and penetration counts to anchor reroof and recover specifications
• FAA Part 107 flight with airspace authorization near the international airport and Naval Air Station

Drone Roof Inspection Questions

A flight covers the whole surface systematically at a steady altitude and produces a complete photographic record, with none of the foot traffic that wears a membrane or the fall risk of an unknown deck. It pays off most on large flat roofs where a walkover eats hours and still overlooks shallow ponding and fine seam separation, and infrared moisture mapping across a big roof is really only practical from above.

Yes, in the right window. We fly infrared during the evening cool-down, when insulation that soaked up heat all day gives it back slower than the dry field and reads warmer in the image. The resulting map is accurate enough to drive the repair-versus-recover-versus-replace call, and we verify each flagged area with a physical core cut.

We deliver a geotagged, time-stamped report documenting hail-bruise density, wind-lifted membrane, displaced edge metal, and equipment damage, built to match what commercial property carriers expect. It can go straight to the adjuster, and on a contested claim we can back it with a written assessment grounded in the documentation.

We work under FAA Part 107. Much of the Corpus Christi waterfront and refinery corridor sits in or near controlled airspace tied to the international airport and the Naval Air Station, so we verify the airspace classification, obtain any required authorization, hold visual line of sight, and arrange flight windows with facility security on sensitive sites.

Routine inspections usually schedule within a few business days. Post-storm flights tied to an active claim are prioritized and often handled within a day or two of a significant weather event, since the documentation window matters. We confirm exact timing when you call.

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