Found out my wood rot was worse than I thought after checking a moisture meter

I was replacing a section of fence down near the corner post last month and I thought I caught the rot early cause the wood just looked a little soft on the surface. Well I pulled out my cheap moisture meter from Harbor Freight just to be sure and it read like 28 percent moisture deep in the wood. That thing was basically a sponge inside even though it looked fine from the outside for like 2 feet up the post. I ended up having to dig out three more posts in that same stretch because they were all in the same range. Turns out the previous guy used pressure treated stuff but it was a grade that just doesn't hold up in wet clay soil. Has anyone else had a meter save them from a bigger headache down the road?

2 comments

2 Comments

logansullivan28d ago

That 28 percent is basically a swimming pool with a fence post shaped wrapper around it. I had a similar moment with a deck board a few years back where the meter read so high I thought it was broken until I poked it with a screwdriver and water literally dripped out. The thing looked perfectly fine on top, just some minor discoloration, but underneath it was basically a termite resort with a water park attached. Saved me from building a deck that would have collapsed under a lawn chair in six months.

kellyj2328d ago

Twenty eight percent? That's basically a waterlogged log pretending to be a fence post. I would've been floored if I found that much moisture after thinking it was just surface rot. You definitely got lucky catching it before that whole section just fell over.