Damp readings

[luke3065]

I have just brought a Moisture meter as I suspect rising damp in my home, the metre tells me the percentage of moisture in the wall and i was just wondering what is exceptable and what is too high, Thanks Luke

 

[foxhole]

You wasted your money they are for use in timber not walls and damp cannot be detected at the surface only condensation.

 

[wreckedit]

You wasted your money they are for use in timber not walls and damp cannot be detected at the surface only condensation.

I am very interested in this answer. I agree that there's not a lot of point in measuring condensation. Isn't damp in wood and walls the same thing but you will get different readings?

 

[foxhole]

double post.

 

[foxhole]

Damp in walls is detectable only by testing a drilled core sample and putting the sample in a pressure chamber device which extracts the moisture and is read by the same device.Wood allows moisture movement much more freely so can be detected at the surface.
Hand held meters can easily be fooled by some wall coverings as well as condensation giving useless readings.
A surveyor sent to check my property when I purchased caused problems for me by saying the entire party wall of my property was very damp and the mortgage should be withheld until sorted.The reason for this error was that he pushed his moisture sensor into the wallpaper covered wall which has been lined with foil by the previous owner to reflect heat back from the party wall.