|
|
Moisture Meters let you
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No one wants to end up with lumber that is warped and twisted Many lumber yards claim it's normal With a moisture meter, you can test lumber before you buy to make sure it is not wet (moisture percentage greater than nineteen percent) which is as wet as grade lumber should ever be when it leaves a mill. Even better, moisture content should be fifteen percent. Generally, a piece of lumber might contain a greater percentage of moisture than its label states. As these higher moisture boards dry out, twisting, warping, cupping and splitting occur. If these pieces had been dried more at the sawmill, the defects would have occurred there and they would have been graded as lower, cheaper grades. Higher moisture content will hide problems that develop as lumber dries. When the steel or nylon bands that hold bunks of lumber tightly together are cut and air is able to circulate and dry it out, you end up with warp, twist, cupping and splits. So why leave it to chance? If you buy yourself a good wood moisture meter, you will be able to test lumber moisture content as you select it for your project. And it doesn't really cost that much at all when you consider the competitive prices found on modern moistures and the savings you accumulate as you waste less lumber. Moisture meters used to be complicated, expensive devices requiring constant calibration, but modern solid state electronics have allowed for the production of small, affordable, highly accurate units perfect for the do it yourselfer. You can now afford to own a moisture meter and take it with you to verify the moisture content of the lumber products to make sure you buy dry products that will not warp, shrink and develop defects after you get them home. It's easy to test wood for moisture content by simply pressing a moisture meter against the item and reading the results on the display. So let's get started . . . Search for moisture meters
|
but it's a problem that is increasing as producers try make more product in a shorter period of time. In the past lumber was dried for a longer period of time and to a lower moisture content, but this caused more warping and twisting that they had to deal with. Now lumber is shipped from the mills wetter and more warping and twisting occurs on the way to the lumber yard and home center, and while it's kept there at the store. What happens then is the consumer has a harder time finding straight, high quality lumber products.