How do we define a good wood moisture meter?
The flooring contractor needs to constantly handle moisture in order to improve the quality of flooring installation as much as possible. If there is too much or too little moisture in the wood compared to the installation site, problems may occur. If there is active leakage in the pipes (or walls or ceilings) of a building, there will be a problem.
Therefore, in order to prevent callbacks and ensure the long service life of the hardwood flooring they install, floor contractors need to use high-quality wood hygrometers in their work. But which type of wood moisture meter is better to use? How do we define a "good wood moisture meter"?
Needle moisture meter
This needle type moisture meter is a group of wood moisture meters with built-in professional floor installation special functions. Firstly, the instrument has a wide range of wood moisture detection (from 5% to 60%). This can help you understand whether the wood is too wet or dry - and how much.
Secondly, this needle type moisture meter performed built-in species calibration on 69 different types of wood. It can also calibrate readings based on temperature - to prevent you from working in particularly hot or cold structures.
However, this feature makes it a great hygrometer for professionals in wooden flooring, with a reading and storage function. It can store up to 1400 moisture content measurements in its memory, with date and timestamp. Optional software allows users to download these readings to their computers for creating Excel reports.
This helps floor contractors document their processes so that they can better demonstrate to customers the reasons for moisture related delays in their floor installation - such as the floor being too wet to install.
Integrated wood moisture tester
The Total Check is a 3-in-1 moisture testing device that combines the functions of two pin and no pin hygrometers in a single device. The reference proportion mode of the needle free moisture meter can be used to quickly scan the abnormal water content of a large number of hardwood floors, while the needle type instrument mode can obtain more accurate and detailed information. The needle moisture meter has built-in wood correction for 69 types of wood, helping to ensure accurate readings.
In fact, the needle type instrument of TotalCheck has all the same functions and advantages as the RDM-3 wood hygrometer, but it also adds a needle less instrument and a temperature and humidity meter.
The temperature and humidity meter helps to turn this humidity meter into a truly integrated floor contractor solution. It helps to measure the relative humidity (RH) and temperature conditions at the installation site, so the flooring contractor can accurately determine the equilibrium moisture content of the flooring wood before installation.
According to the ASTM F-2170 standard, it can also be used in conjunction with in-situ probes to test for excess moisture in concrete sub floors - this is the most reliable method for checking the moisture content in concrete. For flooring contractors, this is necessary, especially in new building locations where they have newly poured concrete.
