Foam board insulation products types and sizes. Learn about R values, uses and benefits of insulation board. Read more about this DIY guide to foam board. A warning to the weak willed! A basement renovation can be trying to your patience, the patience of your co-dwellers, and that of your credit card! That said, it's. How To Repair Hairline Cracks In Sheetrock Ceiling Holder![]() Moisture Meter Reliability Study - How to Choose & Use a Moisture Meter to Screen Buildings for Leaks, Moisture Traps, Rot, Insect Damage, or Mold. MOISTURE METER STUDY - CONTENTS: Field study compares the ability of popular moisture and leak detection tools to find leaks in building wall cavities and ceilings. Importance of visual inspection in assessing the leak risk or mold, insect damage, or rot risk at buildings. Guide to detecting and evaluating leaks and water entry into buildings.
POST a QUESTION or READ FAQs about how to use moisture meters to check for building leaks, hidden damage, mold, insects, rot - reliabilty, procedures, proper usage. REFERENCESInspect. APedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website. Moisture meter reliability for detection of building leaks or moisture problems: Guide to Using Moisture Meters to Screen Buildings for Leaks, Moisture Traps, Rot, Insect Damage, or Mold. This article explains the use and reliability of different types of moisture detection equipment to find water entry problems on buildings. We demonstrate where moisture meters work successfully and where (and why) they don't. We explain the differences between pin type moisture meters and electronic sensor moisture measuring devices. Our page top photo shows our client pointing to flood lines on a heating system expansion tank, indicating that this building was subject to severe deep flooding. We learned from neighbors that a nearby river had flooded this home and others in its neighborhood repeatedly over the 6. Green links show where you are. Copyright 2. 01. 7 Inspect. Apedia. com, All Rights Reserved. Report on the Reliability of Moisture Meters to Screen Buildings for Hidden Moisture, Leaks or Mold Contamination. Question: will my inspector test for moisture? I am scheduling a pre- purchase home inspection and my real estate agent asked a question about moisture detection: he wants to know if the home inspector will check the moisture level in Sheetrock? C. W., New York, NY. Reply: .. it depends .. Moisture meters, particularly pin- type probing moisture meters that detect moisture by sending an electrical signal between two probes inserted into a material (such as the time- tested Delmhorst™ twin- point electronic resistance moisture meter shown at left) are one of the first tools that many building inspectors purchase after a flashlight, ladder, and screwdriver. Relying on any test instrument alone, as we discuss at GAS DETECTOR WARNINGS , is not a good substitute for a careful inspection. While using a moisture meter is a. After all, the building could have had a history. Absence of. evidence of moisture when using a moisture meter in a building is not evidence of absence of a history of building leaks, and there is a long list of visual clues that readily tell the story of a building's leak history or the risk of building flooding. So properly a moisture meter is, in our opinion, useful principally to confirm that a leak is current. We also find moisture meters useful, particularly radio- signal based non- probing moisture meters such the Tramex™ electronic moisture encounter, to check for hidden leaks behind ceramic tile walls in bathrooms and kitchens where probing is impossible. Our photo (above left) illustrates use of a Tramex™ moisture encounter to check for leaks into the EIFS stucco covering of a building's window sill. Details are. at SIDING EIFS WALL LEAK POINTS. And certainly "spot checks. Study Comparing the Effectiveness of Moisture Detection Methods in Buildings. In a field study this author (Daniel Friedman) conducted in February 2. We surveyed the inside surface of building exterior walls of the entire second floor front and rear building surfaces using the following methods: Surface checks for evidence of moisture using a Tramex™ Moisture Encounter (shown above on an exterior window sill). This instrument is non- invasive, does not leave surface marks, and can be slid rapidly along building surfaces, making it easy to scan large areas for moisture. Tramex also makes pin- type moisture meters like the model shown at left.]Surface checks for evidence of moisture using a Delmhorst™ pin- type moisture meter with short pin probes that penetrated less than 3/4" into the building drywall. This type of water leak detection device is the most commonly- used one during home inspections. Long probe moisture meter: Spot checks for moisture at highly- suspect areas, wall tops, around windows, and wall bottoms above baseboard trim using a long- probe Delmhorst pin- type moisture meter. Test cuts into wall and ceiling cavities at highly- suspect areas for recent leaks, including wall tops, around windows, and wall bottoms above baseboard trim using a drywall knife and making 2" x 4" or 4" x 4" inspection openings to examine the wall insulation, wall framing, cavity side of drywall, and the inner surface of exterior building wall sheathing. Our photo (left) shows a wall test cut made and then closed over a window and where from outside we had seen evidence of leaks into the building soffits - caused by ice dams. Note: destructive or invasive inspection practices are not normally used during a pre- purchase home inspection but may indeed be appropriate during more extensive building investigations (with owner permission). In this case we were studying the building for an insurance company who was investigating ice dam leaks.]Demolition and strip cuts or complete removal of the drywall throughout the suspect building walls of the second floor of the home to expose all of the wall cavity framing and exterior wall sheathing, including demolition of a bathroom that had been built using ceramic tile wall covering. Use of infrared or thermography to detect moisture in buildings is a widely- used practice that was not tested during this study. Our OPINION is that not only do IR or thermographic scans of buildings face the same limitations of moisture meters (old leaks are not detected), but as well, the operator needs the skill and experience in IR image interpretation to account for other sources of temperature differences across a building that may be caused by other conditions than water leaks. Conclusions of Moisture Detection Equipment Study. Any moisture meter properly used did a good job of detecting moisture that had penetrated the building interior drywall provided that the drywall was still sufficiently damp at the time of our inspection. An electronic moisture encounter could detect wet insulation in the wall cavity that had not yet led to drywall in that location being sufficiently wet to show up using a surface or pin type moisture detector. But the same device could be "fooled" into reporting wet conditions where there were none if there any metallic substance was in the wall cavity, including electrical wiring, plumbing pipes, expanded metal lath, and foil- faced building insulation. A long- pin type moisture meter was capable of detecting moisture in the wall cavity insulation that did not show up in surface tests, and might not show up using an electronic moisture encounter, provided that the inspector was astute enough or lucky enough to probe exactly correctly to stab into moisture. For example, in one wall cavity water from a roof leak was running down the side of a wall stud (photo at left) but staying close to the exterior wall. This type of leak was missed by most of the test and inspection methods, but would show up eventually in the ceiling below if the leak continued long enough or in great quantity. Old leaks were not detected: None of the moisture detection devices was able to detect points of prior leakage that had dried at the time of the study, but indeed when we demolished the building interior walls, we found both water stains and carpenter ant damage in the bathroom walls from old plumbing leaks. Note. Pin- type moisture meters, in the hands of a very experienced inspector, might detect a suggestion of previous, leaks in areas dry at the time of inspection (provided the surface can be probed AT ALL and is not covered by a hard surface such as ceramic tile) because on occasion mineral salts left behind when a leaked- into- area dries will give a higher moisture meter reading (higher electrical conductance) than surrounding areas even though the surface is dry.
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