this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2026
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Spent a few minutes researching because I was almost sure it was just measuring resistance but that is different depending on materials.
They measure moisture by using a scale of wood equivalent moisture. Basically no matter what you stick it in, the pins measure resistance across the probes and give a number as an equivalent reading for sticking them in wood that is wet. Apparently wood is pretty consistent about resistance regardless ofof what type of wood it is. And since American houses are primarily made of wood, we only care about how wet the wood in a home could be.
That's pretty cool. Doesn't work on drywall or anything else though it sounds like
No it does work on drywall.
Water will spread until it reaches equilibrium. So if drywall is tested and shows 20% then the wood directly attached to it is likely at 20% moisture content as well.
Kind of a genius little device, honestly.
Shouldn't that be the other way around? You can make the extrapolation from the (more accurate) reading of the wood to the materials around it, but not from other materials back to wood. If the resistance of wet drywall is equivalent to that of wood at 20% moisture, I'd think that the drywall is a lot wetter? And using the device on a steel beam might show some insane percentage when we know steel does not absorb water.
Also it becomes wetwall. 🥁
I've used one to check humidity on a fence before painting, but I don't think the manufacturer of my device has any other official use other than wood.
Someone should make a specialised tools community like Reddit's. Would be a good fit there