If your AC has been running nonstop this summer and your electric bill still made you wince, there’s a good chance your house is telling you something — you just can’t see it. Not with your eyes, anyway.
Heat doesn’t care about drywall. It finds every gap in insulation, every settled batt, every spot where cool air is quietly leaking out and hot attic air is leaking in. You can’t see that with a flashlight. But a thermal camera can.
What a Thermal Scan Actually Shows
A FLIR thermal-imaging camera reads surface temperature differences you’d never notice by touch or eye. When I walk through a home with one during a North Texas heat wave, the picture is usually pretty clear: patches of wall or ceiling running noticeably warmer than the rest, right where insulation has settled, shifted, or was never installed to full depth in the first place.
It’s not guesswork. It’s not a “feels a little warm in here” hunch. It’s a visual, documented look at exactly where your home is losing the cool air you’re paying to make.
Peak heat is actually the best time to catch this
Thermal scans work by reading temperature differential — the bigger the gap between inside and outside temps, the clearer the picture. That means a 100-degree North Texas afternoon isn’t a bad time for a scan. It’s the ideal time. The heat does the work of exposing the problem areas for us.
It’s Not Just About Insulation
Here’s the part that surprises people: the same scan that finds missing insulation often finds something else — hidden moisture behind a wall or ceiling that has nothing to do with the heat wave at all. A slow roof leak, a plumbing drip, condensation around a poorly sealed window. Thermal cameras pick up moisture-related temperature differences too, which means a scan booked for “why is my AC bill so high” sometimes turns into “good thing we caught that before it became a real problem.”
That’s not me trying to find something wrong. If the scan comes back clean, I tell you it’s clean. That’s the whole point of an honest inspection.
The Thermal Performance Inspection — What You Get
This is a straightforward, no-pressure scan of your home, starting at $175. Here’s what’s included:
- A full walkthrough with the FLIR thermal camera, checking attic access points, exterior walls, and ceilings
- Moisture meter checks in any area the thermal camera flags as suspicious
- A written report with thermal images, so you can actually see what I saw
- A plain-English explanation of what’s going on — no jargon, no upsell pressure
If everything looks good, you walk away with peace of mind and documentation for your files. If we find gaps, you’ll know exactly where they are and what your options look like — whether that’s a conversation with an insulation contractor, your roofer, or, if there’s active moisture involved, a chat with me about drying it out properly before it becomes a mold problem.
Why This Matters for Your Wallet, Not Just Your Comfort
Every gap in insulation is a place your AC is working overtime for nothing. In peak North Texas summer, that adds up fast — on your bill, and on the wear and tear on your system. Finding the gap doesn’t fix it by itself, but you can’t fix what you can’t see.
Who’s Behind the Camera
I run every one of these scans myself. Merlene Mitigation is a small, local, family-run operation — it’s me, out here in Pilot Point, doing the work in person. No dispatching a stranger, no corporate overhead. That keeps prices fair and keeps me accountable for exactly what I tell you about your own home.
If your bills have you scratching your head, or you just want honest eyes on your home before the rest of summer runs its course, I’d be glad to come take a look. Give Merlene Mitigation a call or send a message, and we’ll get something on the calendar for you and your home here in Pilot Point or anywhere around North Texas.
-Ally