That $80 moisture meter I bought lied to me for 6 months

I picked up a fancy digital moisture meter from Amazon to check my basement walls before painting. It kept saying 12% moisture so I went ahead and slapped on the primer. Turns out the thing was reading the metal studs behind the drywall the whole time, not the actual wall. Has anyone else had one of those cheap meters totally screw up their project timeline?

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murphy.barbara3mo ago

Well actually those pinless meters work by scanning for moisture behind the surface, so it was reading the drywall but the studs being metal probably threw the reading way off. You might have better luck with a pin type meter that actually pokes into the material.

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oscarb773mo ago

Used to think pinless meters were the way to go for everything, no need to poke holes and all that. But reading this makes a lot of sense, especially with metal studs messing with the readings. I had a job where my pinless meter kept showing bone dry readings on a wall that was clearly damp, and I was pulling my hair out (not literally, but close). Now I'm wondering if the metal frame was the problem that whole time. Makes me want to grab a pin type meter for those tricky spots, even if it leaves a tiny hole.

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