Facade Inspection From a Desk
Facade inspection often ends up with booking a cradle or a rope-access team. It should start with a simpler question: which part of the wall are we talking about?
Picture the owner of a hotel tower. The facade consultant reports staining and a possible hairline crack on the north side, high up. It arrives as a paragraph and a few photos. The owner has to decide whether to arrange access equipment now or wait for the next scheduled inspection.
(This is an illustration, not a customer story.)
The photos show what the wall looks like. They do not show where on the building's own drawings it sits, how large it is, or whether it looked the same last time. Owners and project teams keep sending people, or crews, to answer those three questions on site, when a map of the facade can already answer much of them.
DEX is YelloSKYE's platform for viewing and checking site data online. Its Facade view is built for exactly this first step.
Facade inspection starts with the map, one side at a time
In the Facade view, each side of a building is shown as a high-resolution map, and you choose the capture date you want to look at. Every side is its own map, so a finding is marked on the north face, not on a general idea of the building.
Lay the elevation drawing over the facade map
An elevation drawing is the straight-on drawing of one face of a building. In the Facade view, these drawings can be laid over the facade map and switched on and off, once they have been prepared and published for the building.
So the owner looks at the north face, switches the drawing on, and reads the same area of the map against the drawing. "Near the top" becomes an area that the facade consultant, the contractor and the owner can all point at on the same view.
Then ask: how big, and has it changed?
Two questions follow quickly. The first is size. The measuring tools on the map take a length or an area, so a first idea of scale does not have to wait for a visit.
The second is change. The comparison view puts two capture dates side by side. If an area looks the same in both, that is worth knowing. If it does not, that is a better reason to send someone than a paragraph in a report.
Want to see the Facade view on a building like yours? Request a demo.
Where a 3D model exists for the date, one click switches the view to it. Where there is none, the option is simply unavailable.
Record it where it was seen
When a defect is worth recording, you can mark an issue on the facade itself, so the finding is recorded on the facade rather than only in an email. The facade files behind the view, which are the facade maps, the outline of the facade, the 3D model where there is one, and the drawings, can be downloaded from the same place. That helps when a consultant asks for the facade files.
Back to the hotel tower
With the map open, the owner has the three answers before anyone is booked. The crack is on the north face, in an area that can be read against the elevation drawing. A measuring tool gives a first idea of its length. The comparison with an earlier capture shows whether it looked different then.
Now the owner has a real choice to make. If the area looks unchanged, the next scheduled inspection may be soon enough. If it does not, access can be booked for that area, and the people who go up arrive with a marked position and an earlier view to compare against.
What a map does not do
A facade map does not replace a qualified engineer, and it does not replace touching the wall where touching is needed. Checking for loose or hollow areas, looking at fixings and opening a joint still take a person up close. A person still judges what the record shows.
What the map changes is the order of work: you decide where to look, and how urgently, before access is booked, instead of discovering it on the day.
See the Facade view on your own building
If someone on your team still travels to check a facade that a map could narrow down, request a demo and tell us which building that is. We will show you the Facade view and answer how your building's facade would be set up.
Frequently asked questions
What is a facade inspection?
A facade inspection is a check of a building's exterior walls for damage, wear or loose elements. It is often repeated on a schedule, and the findings are written up in a facade inspection report.
Can a facade inspection be done remotely?
Part of it can. Reviewing a facade map, reading findings against the drawings and comparing dates can be done from a desk. Close-up checks of the wall still need people on site.
What does the Facade view in DEX show?
Each side of a building as a high-resolution map for a chosen date, with elevation drawings that can be laid over it, measuring tools, issue marking, and a 3D model where one exists.