Moisture in your buildings and project materials can seriously affect your work. Your primary goal during building restoration is to remove moisture from the walls and floor. A moisture meter is a hand held device that measures the amount of moisture present in a building material, therefore helping you to discern where the levels of damage throughout various rooms and allowing you to follow the drying progress. Modern meters have a digital readout that tells you the percentage of water present in a building material. Some also have a digital bar graph to give you a relative sense of moisture levels.
The present market contains various models, all of which fall under 2 types. The first type are the meters that use 2 built in pins or an attached probe to measure moisture content just below the surface. They produce a highly accurate read for the area directly under the pins. They leave pin holes, though this is no problem if the work you are doing means that those holes will be concealed. Pinless meters, or non-invasive meters, use a panel on the back of the device to sense moisture content below the surface. They lie flat against the wall, leaving no damage, and sense a large area.
When choosing a moisture meter, it is wise to choose whether your work requires a pocket model or a larger multifunctional model. Pocket models give you a moisture content read only while multifunction models give you a variety of reads. There are many other options that a meter could include as well. Some allow you to choose wood type; some have data functions; some have thermometers for surface or air temperature. Some pinless models include a pin probe for dual functionality.
Whether your job is big or small, make sure you have a good moisture meter ready.