Review on 🌲 Delmhorst J-LITE: Accurate Pin LED Wood Moisture Meter (6% to 30%) for Precise Measurement by Robert Prix

If you have read Bruce Hodley's excellent book Understanding Wood you will know why you need a moisture meter. Wood expands and contracts depending on the humidity in the area. Mr. Hodley will show you how to calculate how much your wood will 'move' in response, but to do this you first need to know the initial moisture content in your wood. (The math isn't hard, by the way.) Whether you're installing siding, laying hardwood floors, building furniture, determining how much the wall height of your new log home will change, or just checking to see if the toilet seal isn't leaking. , a wood combustion counter can help. Even construction carpenters can use this gadget to determine, for example, how much a new frame building will sit, which can be useful when attaching siding, especially if it's more than one story. Usage is only limited by your knowledge or wood and applications. I have owned a Delmhorst J-lite for about 2 1/2 years and I am very happy with it. I use it less often than I thought, but it pays off with almost every use. For example, I installed a $1,400 pine board in my house last year. By measuring the moisture content of the existing interior wood and then comparing it to that of the pine, it was easy to see that the pine would shrink after installation (and using Hodley's formula to calculate the amount of change - in this case the wood was wetter than the existing wood in my house so I knew it would sit about 1/16th so I made sure the tongue and groove boards were pressed tightly against each other (there is a small gap between the boards.) When laying the Use the moisture meter to know know exactly when your wooden floorboards have become accustomed to the humidity in your home. There are many rules of thumb for this, ranging from weeks to months, but it's not necessary (and quite absurd at times) if your boards get the right moisture levels from the start. Let's go back to Delmhorst. What I like about it is that it's durable and well built; the indications are quite simple and understandable; the battery lasts a very long time; lies well in the hand, pleasant. o Comes in a nice blown plastic case o Includes a table to correct for specific species and temperatures, but this is not usually necessary unless extreme precision is important to you. o Can test wood more easily and give relative readings for plywood, OSB, MDF, etc. One of them is wetter/dryer, which can be very useful). The only downside I can think of is that it requires a 9 volt battery. It would be a little more convenient if it used AA batteries. In summary, this well-made meter appears to provide accurate and consistent results. Its usefulness depends on your willingness to learn about wood and its response to moisture.