Bought a cheap moisture meter on Amazon for $12 and it saved my drywall patch job

I was patching a water stain on my bathroom ceiling in my 1950s bungalow and kept getting bubbles in the mud. Turned out the old leak was still damp behind the paint. The meter showed 18% moisture in that spot versus 6% everywhere else. Do you trust those cheap moisture meters or are they just a gimmick that gets people chasing phantom problems?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunakim2mo ago

That 18% vs 6% difference is exactly why I keep one in my toolbox, saved me from mudding over a hidden leak in my own bathroom last year.

joseph_adams662mo ago

That 18% number would've saved me a ton of rework last month.

rubyschmidt22d ago

I totally agree with lunakim on that 18 vs 6 difference being clutch - those cheap meters might not be lab grade but they're good enough to catch a hidden problem before you make a mess worse. Even a rough number gives you something concrete to go on instead of just guessing by feel.