I spent $300 on a fancy moisture meter and it almost cost me my kitchen remodel

I bought this high end pinless moisture meter to check my subfloor before laying tile. It kept giving me green readings so I went ahead with the install. Three months later the grout started cracking and when I pulled up a tile the wood underneath was totally wet. Turns out a slow leak from the fridge line had been there the whole time and the meter just wasn't reading right on that small area. Has anyone else had a tool totally let them down like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas.parker18d ago

$300 for a pinless meter? That's the problem right there. Those things are garbage for finding small wet spots. I use a cheap pin type from Amazon that cost like $40. You gotta stab it in the wood to get a real reading. Pinless meters just scan the surface. They miss everything underneath. Your fridge line leak probably stayed in the wood for weeks before it spread out enough to show up on that thing.

morgan.logan17d ago

Pinless ones still pick up moisture through tile and laminate lmao.

nguyen.tara17d ago

Wonder how many holes you've drilled into perfectly dry wood chasing ghosts.