Continuous Monitoring

Initial Assessment:  Extent of the Damage – use handheld equipment

Handheld meters are excellent tools to determine the extent of water/moisture damage. You can quickly determine the boundaries of the affected and damaged areas by observing the change in moisture content from visibly wet areas to visibly dry areas.

Direct meters provide accurate information about the moisture content of wood, sheathing, and drywall.   The handheld meters are usually used at the default calibration of Douglas fir, and the probes used are generally surface probes that penetrate the wood only ¼”.  The initial results from probing with a handheld meter are useful to know the extent of the moisture damage, but generally do not provide significant information about how saturated the lumber, sheathing, or drywall really is (as the surface readings tend to be at or near the maximum wet reading soon after a water loss)

Indirect meters provide excellent information about the relative change in moisture content of a material. Often the true extent of moisture damage can be quickly assess using these meters. 

Monitoring the Site: Document the Drying Process – use automated monitoring

Once the extent of the damage hasbeen determined it is important to monitor the drying process. In the past, this has been done by returning daily to the site with handheld meters and taking readings from various locations at the job site. This tends to be both time consuming and erroneous.

The probes on the SMT continuous monitoring kits provide moisture readings from the surface to the core of the wood. Unless you regularly use hammer probes, the ¼” probes only give you the surface reading – in moving air, the surface of the wood dries out rapidly –and may not be a true indication of the amount of moisture embodies in the wood, gypsum or concrete.

Installing continuous monitoring provides a reliable method of documenting the drying process. The automated monitoring allows you to monitor the progress of the job so you can determine that the drying equipment is working effectively and act to correct the problem.  SMT's continuous monitoring provides an accurate history of the drying process and generates detailed reports of each job performed.  This alleviates the need for labour intensive daily site readings with a handheld meter and eliminates errors.