Iowa State University Steep Roof Drone Imagery

Located in Ames, IA

Iowa State University requested a roofing assessment for the Campanile Bell Tower, Catt Hall, Morrill Hall, and Admissions Building. The goal was to have a report that would assess the need, urgency, and cost estimates for repairs.

All four of these buildings are unique, with steep roofs and challenging accessibility, making a traditional assessment difficult, expensive and a safety concern. Shive-Hattery determined the best option to meet these requirements in a safe and cost-effective manner would be a drone survey.

In less than a day, Shive-Hattery was able to use a drone to collect over 4,000 high-resolution images of the ISU roofs. The images were then processed into colorized, georeferenced 3D Point Clouds with hundreds of millions of points covering nearly every inch of each roof. Each individual point is tied to the imagery, allowing for ultra-high-resolution inspection and accurate measurement across the roofs.

This raw data was delivered directly to ISU, and it was also used by Shive-Hattery roofing specialists to generate a report document identifying potential concerns. Follow-up meetings included presentations to ISU and Building Envelope Commission of Iowa.

This was a highly successful project that provided valuable information for a fraction of the cost of bringing in lifts or other equipment needed to safely assess the steep roofs. Additionally, the data is comprehensive to the entire site, and it is documented and stored, allowing for safe and effortless future re-collection of missed or additionally required data. The visual nature of the data also helps show various stakeholders why improvements are necessary in an easily understandable way.