Cheap 2-pin wood moisture meter

I'm looking at the following at Harbor Freight:

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It's $20, and I wonder if it's worth the money. My initial purpose for it is to find leaks in my attic. I just had total roof job done to my very old house and there's a lot of discolored wood up there and have to guess if wood is wet or not. I figure the meter might make finding leaks a lot easier than digging my finger nail into a piece of wood or rubbing it with my hand.

Also, it might come in handy when trying to determine if wood is moist or not. For instance, is it ready to prime/paint yet? Might it warp or check unless allowed to dry further? Maybe picking out lumber at Home Depot, etc.

Thanks for any information.

Dan

Reply to
Dan_Musicant
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I'm looking at the following at Harbor Freight:

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It's $20, and I wonder if it's worth the money. My initial purpose for it is to find leaks in my attic. I just had total roof job done to my very old house and there's a lot of discolored wood up there and have to guess if wood is wet or not. I figure the meter might make finding leaks a lot easier than digging my finger nail into a piece of wood or rubbing it with my hand.

Also, it might come in handy when trying to determine if wood is moist or not. For instance, is it ready to prime/paint yet? Might it warp or check unless allowed to dry further? Maybe picking out lumber at Home Depot, etc.

Thanks for any information.

Dan

Reply to
Dan_Musicant

Reply to
Mike Berger

The info you get from a moisture meter isn't well suited for detecting roof leaks. Oh, it'll tell you where it's wet, but the moisture you're trying to measure is beyond the meter's real working limits. You'd do as well or better to just feel or eyeball something like a roof leak. It'll be obvious. But they're great for their intended use, at a "proper" lumberyard. HD's wood is for slap-dash, who-cares projects, IMO. Tom

Reply to
tom

If you have cedar shingles it is normal for the edges to be damp after a rain. Normal to see day light on a dry day.

Reply to
Leon

Dan_Musicant wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

For 20 bucks,you can't go and buy one and see for yourself????

Even if it doesn't suit you,you can sell it on Ebay,and probably get more for it than your 20 bucks investment.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

It is a good idea Ive used a Delmhorst for 20+ years to check discolored wood and plaster, it will let you know , touching it will tell you nothing. I would get one from a local store incase it does not work well enough or breaks, 20$ is cheapo. My Delmhorst was 275$ 20 years ago. It will inform you of areas to watch mark and monitor and areas to forget about as just old discoloration. If I ever have a question to a leak my meter proves or disproves it, looks and touch are completly miss leading.

Reply to
m Ransley

maybe use a $10 water alarm on a water collecting tarp in the attic test area. move around a day after rain stops to next test spot. see also insulation:

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pdf pages about your house at:
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Reply to
buffalobill

DAGS on the wreck, this has been asked and answered already. Short version: the HF version doesn't work.

H
Reply to
hylourgos

:Will that tell you what you need to know? What if the wood has :rotted, but is dry?

I suppose it wouldn't help with wood that's dryrotten but not wet. I want to be able to go into my fairly dark attic and find wet wood, if any. I see stained wood but it's generally from past leaks, not present ones. The house is 95 years old and there were a lot of leaks in the attic but it appears that they were just about all fixed before they caused dryrot. However, I want to make sure that my recent roof job was adequate, and will be checking for leaks. A wood moisture meter might really help with that. : :Dan_Musicant wrote: : :> It's $20, and I wonder if it's worth the money. My initial purpose for :> it is to find leaks in my attic. I just had total roof job done to my :> very old house and there's a lot of discolored wood up there and have to :> guess if wood is wet or not. I figure the meter might make finding leaks :> a lot easier than digging my finger nail into a piece of wood or rubbing :> it with my hand.

Reply to
Dan_Musicant

:>

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:> It's $20, and I wonder if it's worth the money. My initial purpose for :> it is to find leaks in my attic. I just had total roof job done to my :> very old house and there's a lot of discolored wood up there and have to :> guess if wood is wet or not. I figure the meter might make finding leaks :> a lot easier than digging my finger nail into a piece of wood or rubbing :> it with my hand. : : :If you have cedar shingles it is normal for the edges to be damp after a :rain. Normal to see day light on a dry day. : The bottom-most layer of what they tore off on Oct. 28 and 29 was cedar shingles. Now, what I see from the attick above the skip sheathing is

1/2" CDX plywood, above which is 30# paper and then architectural asphalt composition shingles.
Reply to
Dan_Musicant

:Dan_Musicant wrote in :news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com: : :> I'm looking at the following at Harbor Freight: :> :>

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:> It's $20, and I wonder if it's worth the money. My initial purpose for :> it is to find leaks in my attic. I just had total roof job done to my :> very old house and there's a lot of discolored wood up there and have to :> guess if wood is wet or not. I figure the meter might make finding leaks :> a lot easier than digging my finger nail into a piece of wood or rubbing :> it with my hand. :> :> Also, it might come in handy when trying to determine if wood is moist :> or not. For instance, is it ready to prime/paint yet? Might it warp or :> check unless allowed to dry further? Maybe picking out lumber at Home :> Depot, etc. :> :> Thanks for any information. :> :> Dan : : :For 20 bucks,you can't go and buy one and see for yourself???? : :Even if it doesn't suit you,you can sell it on Ebay,and probably get more :for it than your 20 bucks investment.

Yeah, there's a point to that. I figure even if what it tells me isn't accurate, I can make an educated guess what the situation is. It undoubtedly works by measuring the conductivity between the electrodes - basically, it's an ohmmeter.

Reply to
Dan_Musicant

:DAGS on the wreck, this has been asked and answered already. Short :version: the HF version doesn't work. : :H Link?

Reply to
Dan_Musicant

:DAGS on the wreck, this has been asked and answered already. Short :version: the HF version doesn't work. : :H DAGS means what?

I see where you said you didn't care for the Harbor Freight one and sent it back and had decided to get a better one:

Back in 2003:

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Reply to
Dan_Musicant

Well it sounds like they did the job correctly in that respect. I would not worry about it myself. If you see stains now it is most likely from the cedar shingle roof. Cedar shingles swell and seal up the tiny holes when they get wet. Not unusual for there to be a slight bit of seepage until they did.

Reply to
Leon

Yes that's the one. Isn't it a pretty direct answer to your question?

Or, to get to the point, did you DAGS first or post the question first?

I hate to be net nanny, but it seems that's what's happened.

With self-loathing, H

Reply to
hylourgos

I have one! It works but I find it is a bit difficult to use. You really have to push it in the 1/8" that the instructions say in order to get a reading. I have a difficult time getting a reading through long grain. Not such a problem with end grain. I got it to keep track of the moisture in my bowl blanks for turning. That's my story and I gotta stick with it...... George Hughes Warner Robins, GA

Reply to
George H Hughes

DAGS=do a Google search

Reply to
hylourgos

Sorry, forgot to add:

DAGS=do a Google search

this helps avoid repetitive topics on the NG

Cheers, H

Reply to
hylourgos

Dan_Musicant wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

There's only two types of moisture meters;the ohmic type,and the RF- absorbtion type. The latter works on the "grid-dip" principle,that an oscillator's output drops under a nearby load capacitively or inductively coupled. IOW,if something that absorbs RF nears the oscillator's antenna,it causes the output to drop depending on how much the load absorbs RF.The meter section measures the RF output,is calibrated to show % of moisture.

dry wood absorbs less RF than wet wood.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

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