plainpainter
New member
Anyone ever bought one of those gadgets? I think I have used mine a total of 4 times before it got relegated to collecting dust. Sure there was a gradation of % of wood moisture - but it seemed when wood dried for a couple of sunny days and felt dry to my hands - the moisture meter didn't register anything. And when wood felt moist to my hands - the moisture meter said it was moist.
It basically didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know. Not to mention when I first started in the painting trades I was taught by these old geysers to use boiled linseed oil along with turpentine to chase the moisture out of wood and it always worked.
I painted my sisters house once and one of her window sills on the inside was soaking wet from condensation dribbling down. I used a quick dry oil primer directly on this soaking wood - and an hour later there was a puddle of water that got pushed up to the surface and was sitting on top of the primer - I padded it dry with paper towels - leaving the primer intact.
Three days later the window sill felt bone dry to my hands - and I put a couple coats of latex paint - and it's been 5 years and still looks perfect.
I think we way over think moisture levels sometimes. If the deck has had couple of dry days, feels dry - it's ready to go.
It basically didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know. Not to mention when I first started in the painting trades I was taught by these old geysers to use boiled linseed oil along with turpentine to chase the moisture out of wood and it always worked.
I painted my sisters house once and one of her window sills on the inside was soaking wet from condensation dribbling down. I used a quick dry oil primer directly on this soaking wood - and an hour later there was a puddle of water that got pushed up to the surface and was sitting on top of the primer - I padded it dry with paper towels - leaving the primer intact.
Three days later the window sill felt bone dry to my hands - and I put a couple coats of latex paint - and it's been 5 years and still looks perfect.
I think we way over think moisture levels sometimes. If the deck has had couple of dry days, feels dry - it's ready to go.