Regretted cheaping out on a moisture meter for my basement project

I was finishing my basement in Denver last fall and figured I could save $50 by grabbing a basic $20 moisture meter from the hardware store. Big mistake. After I painted and sealed the walls, I noticed damp spots forming behind the drywall about two weeks later. Turns out my cheap meter was reading way off and I missed a leak near the foundation corner. I had to tear out three sheets of drywall and redo the insulation, which cost me around $300 in materials alone. The wasted time was even worse since I had to push back my whole schedule by a month. Anyone else had a tool fail like this and end up paying way more down the road?

1 comments

1 Comment

alex8203h ago

Yeah, been there. Cheap meters are garbage for any kind of serious work, you're basically gambling on whether you're getting real numbers or not. A pinless one from a decent brand would have been cheaper than redoing the whole wall.