Bought a $30 moisture meter that lied to me for 6 months

I got one of those cheap pin-type meters off Amazon and tested my basement walls every month. It kept saying 12% moisture which I thought was fine. Then I had a plumber buddy bring his $200 pinless one and it read 28%. The wood behind the drywall was already starting to rot. Has anyone else caught a big difference between cheap and good moisture meters?

3 comments

3 Comments

lewis.terry25d ago

Yeah, that tracks with what I saw when I helped a buddy check his crawlspace. The cheap pin meters are really just guessing at surface moisture, while the pinless ones actually see deeper into the material.

victor77925d ago

Did you read that test someone did on the JLC forums? They compared a cheap pin meter against a higher end pinless one on wet drywall and the pin meter barely registered anything until the surface was literally dripping. Makes you wonder how many people get false peace of mind from those cheap gadgets.

gracec1624d agoTop Commenter

Fits the pattern of cheap tools making people feel smarter than they are.