young.thomas•17d agoMost Upvoted

That $200 moisture meter from Amazon was way off on a job site

I bought this fancy pinless moisture meter for $200 thinking it would save me time checking bricks before laying them. Turned out it was reading 5% when the real moisture was closer to 15% on a batch of commons from a local supplier near Austin. Three courses I laid started efflorescing bad after a week because the bricks soaked up mortar water. Has anyone else had a cheap meter burn them on a commercial job?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooket4317d ago

Bought a cheaper pinless model a few years back for checking fence posts before setting them in concrete, and it told me 8% when the wood was still dripping from the rain the night before. Had to pull four posts out after they started rotting at the base within two months. Now I just use a old school pin-type meter for anything that matters, it's slower but at least you know what you're getting.

alicer5316d ago

Pinless meters are junk for brick. Stick with a pin meter.

kai_chen216d ago

Wait, @brooket43, are you saying even the cheap ones are that unreliable? I dropped $200 on a pinless unit and it lied to me about brick moisture, just like your meter did on fence posts. Ended up tearing out three courses of efflorescing commons last week. Old school pin meters may be slow but at least they tell the truth.