The building community soon may have radio vision -- a new way to "see" moisture inside walls. Building researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have joined forces with Intelligent Automation Inc. in Rockville, MD, to develop a way to use ultra wide-band radio waves to non-destructively detect moisture within the walls of a building. As any homeowner who's suffered with leaky plumbing or mold problems will tell you, the current state of the art for pinpointing moisture problem areas relies mostly on guesswork and a drywall saw.
Based on hardware developed by Intelligent Automation, the new NIST technique involves sending a broad range of radio frequencies through typical drywall construction to look for a "moisture" signature in the signal that is reflected back. Laboratory experiments conducted with a simplified wall section made of gypsum board, fiberglass insulation, and oriented strand board (similar to plywood), demonstrated that the new method can locate moisture pockets to within one centimeter.