Mistakes to avoid when using a moisture meter

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Avoiding Common Mistakes With A Moisture Meter

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Avoiding Common Mistakes With A Moisture Meter

Even a professional with a vast knowledge of moisture meters and their use, can make common mistakes when using them. If you do not follow certain guide lines and moisture meter instructions for taking readings, you may well face difficult problems at a later date. The most common mistakes to avoid when using a moisture meter are:

Essential to have the correct moisture meter

As obvious as it sounds, even professionals find themselves using the wrong type of moisture meter. Owning a good and reliable moisture meter is one thing. But the problem can be that you come to rely on that particular moisture meter because is has worked well for you in the past. The problem is that different types of wood and other materials can give extremely different readings. Having knowledge of a particular material you will be testing, is of utmost importance. Many moisture meters are capable of testing different materials, but many are also just designed for work with one specific material.

Moisture meters can either be pin or pinless meters. Pin meters will leave holes in any substance they are used to test on. These can be unsitely and upset any customer you are working for.

Always check the moisture meter has the proper calibration

When it comes to testing different materials, all materials require a different calibration setting. Certain moisture meters will have a built in automatic calibration, which makes life so much simpler. Others have manual calibration and the responsibility for having the correct calibration falls on to the meter user. You also need to test your moisture meter once in a while to ensure that the calibration settings are correct. You can do this by testing a material that has a steady level of moisture.

Always keep the meter pins in good, clean condition. Replace heavily used pins to ensure more accurate results.

Always take several readings

It is an easy trap to fall in. Many people just rely upon one or a couple of readings to ascertain a general level of moisture conditions in an area or material. Doing this can result in missed areas and these missed areas can be places where the moisture is at it's worst, or even the source of a major leak. So be thorough when testing with a moisture meter and don't cut corners when testing. Moisture meters give pretty much instant readings, so taking a few more extra readings will only take up a little more of your time, but could save days of work in the future, as well as keeping your wallet closed!

Understand the results

If you do not understand the results the moisture meter gives, why bother using one? To understand the results you need to understand the material that is being tested. When you buy a new moisture meter, it should come with a chart that provides accurate information relative to the reading results. A particular reading for one material can have a completely different meaning for another material. For example, different species of woods have their own specific and optimal levels of moisture content.