Measure what matters, year after year
Most buildings get tested once — at the end of construction — and then we find out how they really behave only when something goes wrong. Remote monitoring flips that: small, battery-powered sensors embedded in building assemblies and mechanical spaces stream data to the cloud for years, so owners and designers can see what's actually happening inside walls, roofs, basements, and attics over real seasons.
GMEC designs, installs, and maintains custom monitoring programs tailored to each project's research questions. Sensors are WiFi- or cellular-enabled, deploy without running new wiring, and can run for up to 15 years on internal batteries. Data flows into a dashboard the owner and design team can access from anywhere.
The goal is simple: move building performance out of the realm of "we hope so" and into the realm of measured fact.
What we monitor
Each program is scoped to the building and the questions being asked. Typical instrumentation includes:
Temperature & humidity
Interstitial assembly conditions (in stud cavities, roof decks, basement walls) and interior room conditions, at as many points as the project warrants.
Wood moisture content
Resistance-pin sensors embedded in framing, sheathing, or rim joists to track moisture trends where drying is critical to durability.
Building air pressure
Differential pressure sensors to quantify stack effect, mechanical imbalance, and depressurization events that drive moisture and air quality issues.
Indoor air quality
CO and CO₂ sensors for combustion safety and ventilation performance, plus optional VOC and particulate monitoring.
Exterior weather
Outdoor temperature, humidity, and driving rain recorded at the site itself — the only way to correlate interior conditions against actual exposures.
Who monitoring is for
Monitoring is most valuable when the cost of being wrong is high — or when the lessons from one building can inform many:
- Owners of high-performance buildings who want to verify that the envelope and mechanicals are doing what the design said they would.
- Architects and engineers pursuing innovative assembly details who want durability data to refine future designs — thin exterior insulation, dense-packed cellulose in unusual conditions, retrofit CLT, etc.
- Researchers and funders running pilot projects or grant-funded retrofits that require documented performance outcomes.
- Owners with recurring problems — mold, ice damming, elevated humidity, unexplained energy use — where targeted monitoring can localize the cause.
- Builders offering performance warranties who want data to protect themselves and their clients over the warranty period.
Good to know. Monitoring programs are priced per-sensor and per-month of service. Small pilots (6–12 sensors, one building, 1–2 years) scale up from there. We prefer to scope monitoring alongside BECx or an assessment so the instrumentation is keyed to the specific questions the project is trying to answer.