Moisture Probes and Moisture Meters

Moisture Probes

Water Damage Restoration technicians use moisture probe to determine the size of area that water has spread. The probe allows the technician to "see" if the pad is wet, even when it is covered by dry carpet.

Moisture probes are fairly simple battery powered devices. The units that Althouse Cleaning technicians use at water damage sites in El Paso and Las Cruces. The probe has two very sharp prongs that stick through the carpet to the pad and sub-floor. When the prongs are surronded by a wet material a circuit is completed and creates a beeping sound in the moisture probe. Some units just make a sound, others indicate more moisture content by beeping more rapidly. The technician walks about the room carrying the sensor like a cane; sticking the prongs into the carpet. This gives the technician an fairly clear idea the extend of the spreading water. The probe does not damage the carpet in any way.

The moisture probe provides only limited information. It may tell you what is wet, but can't indicate how wet the material is. Moisture meters can tell how wet a material is by the percentage of water held in the host material. 

Moisture Meters

It is very important that the technician monitor the drying progress over a few days and to be abloe to say when the structure is dry enough to pose no threat of mold or bacteria  multiplying. Moisture meters come with various features. One type of meter that Althouse technicians use is called a thermohygrometer. It measures temperature, relative humidity and specific humidity in the air, as well as the moisture levels of in various materials such as wood, sheetrock, brick, etc.

After the initial water restoration visit to extract water and set up drying equipment, Althouse technicians return on a daily basis to document the drying process. This is done by measuring, using the thermohygrometer, every room, floor area, cabinet group and wall to determine if they are properly drying. All readings are documented. Drying equipment may be moved, repositioned or removed according to what is called for using IICRC's principles for Applied Structural Drying.

Some moisture meters are known as non-invasive. They can read moisture levels inside a material (such as a brick or piece of sheetrock) without physically penetrating it. This type of unit works similarly to a studfinder. It emits a wavelength signal, reads it back again, and then interprets the amount of moisture present. Unlike the studfinder, it relies on an installed mini-computer to calculate its finding into a percentage of moisture present.

Some meters are invasive, and have sharp pins that physically penetrate the material like the carpet probe. Other meters have attachments to penetrate the material. A common use of this type of meter is for measuring the amount of moisture in a hardwood floor or a plywood sub-floor. One such attachment is a hammer probe in which a sliding weight helps drive the pins into the floor to obtain an accurate measurement of the moisture content in the wood.