Appreciation post: That $40 moisture meter I swore was junk saved me from a $3,000 floor replacement

I was at a supply house in Tulsa a couple months back and the counter guy talked me into one of those pinless moisture meters, the kind that look like a toy. I figured it was a gimmick and told him "no way that thing works better than my eyes." But I had this job laying hardwood in a basement where the homeowner swore it was dry, and I had a bad feeling. So I grabbed the meter, ran it over the slab, and it lit up red in three spots reading 18% moisture. The homeowner got mad and called me a scammer until I showed him the puddle under the vapor barrier. That little meter paid for itself ten times over on that single job and I use it before every install now. Has anyone else had a tool they thought was BS that turned out to be a lifesaver?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sandra2d ago

Picked up one of those laser distance measures at Harbor Freight for $20 thinking it was probably gonna break on the first job. First week I used it to measure a wonky living room with bumpouts and weird angles and it saved me from cutting three wrong pieces of baseboard. My old tape measure is now living in the bottom of my tool bag collecting dust. Still embarrassed I thought lasers were just for playing with cats.

christopher9522d ago

@the_sandra you basically just described my EXACT same experience. I bought one from Amazon on a whim and felt stupid for wasting the money. But that thing saved my butt on a weird staircase trim job where my tape kept flopping around. Now I grab it for everything. Still keep the old tape for backup though. Old habits.