May 21, 2011

No moisture meter? Really??

I got a call yesterday from a sales agent that has referred me previously, asking me if I could help her out with something.
It seems that clients of hers used a home inspector they found and during the inspection, he saw some stains under a couple of windows and declared they were wet.
The agent asked him if he had a moisture meter to test them, but he didn't have one.... Really?
A home inspector without a moisture meter is like a piece of bread with nothing on it... quite useless!

I tested the areas he noted first with my infrared camera, then with a moisture meter. Nada. The areas were as dry as an interior wall- 6-7% moisture.

A person that calls themselves a home inspector should have the basic tools of the job and properly back up all suspicions with testing. This one needs more training and should invest in some proper tools before they really mess up a deal and give out poor information.

2 comments:

  1. I agree, with a comment...If I touch it and my hand comes away wet, or I can feel it is cold/damp, I don't need my meter. If in doubt, I go get my Meter. I use a meter rather than a IR camera becasue if the room is stable, the stain will be the same temp as the wall and I won't "see" anything. If I can play with the temp, or if the source is active (cold) OK...but you really need an exadurated temp diff to see things with an IR camera

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  2. I just can’t stop reading this. It’s so cool, so full of information that I just didn’t know. I’m glad to see that people are actually writing about this issue in such a smart way, showing us all different sides to it. You’re a great blogger. Please keep it up. I can’t wait to read what’s next.

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