Pro tip: That $20 moisture meter from Amazon is way off for pressure treated lumber

I was building a deck for a buddy in Springfield last fall and tested some 2x6s with my cheap moisture meter before nailing them down. Turns out the thing was reading 5 percent lower than the actual wood moisture because of the copper in the treatment. Anyone else run into this or know a better budget meter that works on treated wood?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_kai9d ago

Interesting take, but I've had a different experience with those cheap meters. Grabbed a $18 model from Harbor Freight last spring for a fence repair and tested it against a borrowed Delmhorst on some pressure treated 4x4s. Both meters were within 1 percent of each other after I let the wood stabilize for a few days in the garage. My guess is the copper can throw things off if you test right after treatment, but once the wood dries down a bit it evens out. Those budget meters aren't perfect by any means, but the issue might be more about timing than the meter itself in your case.

piper_thompson319d ago

Yeah I feel you on that. I've had similar luck with my cheap old moisture meter from the hardware store. It's not the fanciest thing but it gets the job done on most of my projects. I think people get too caught up in brand names sometimes when really the technique matters more. Your point about timing is spot on too. If you test green wood right after cutting or treating you're gonna get different readings than if you let it sit for a while. I've been burned by that myself thinking my wood was wet when it was just fresh. So yeah I'm with you on this one, those budget meters can work fine if you know what you're doing.