TOPIC: Help! First Time Home Buyer Here - Higher Moisture Levels Reported During Inspec

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!  We just had our home inspection done on a house we are potentially closing on soon and the inspector said he was getting high levels on his moisture meter around some window frames and interior walls.  I saw on one picture from the report that it read 17.3 but I am not sure if a 17 is extremely high or not.  The house is in Tampa, FL where the humidity is very high so I didnt know if that was common or not but the inspector seemed to be pretty concerned with the high levels.  We also found a pipe underneath the house that was broken and draining under the crawl space.  Could the water that was collecting under there cause the higher levels above due to evaporation or something else?  This is the only thing holding us back from purchasing the house because we are afraid that there is a bigger problem like leaky pipes in the wall or roof that has been going on for awhile and eventually causing bad mold or destruction.  Any help would be great! Thanks!

This question has been asked and discussed at length on many forums but never easily answered. There are so many  
unknown variables since we were not there when the readings were taken.

- did the inspector know how to properly use a moisture meter?
- what was the actual relative humidity during testing?
- were windows open or closed?
- was there air conditioning?
- was a baseline reading established?
- were the readings in all areas throughout the house consistent?
- was there a stud/framing, nail, corner bead, electrical wiring, metal plumbing behind the drywall where readings were taken?
- were readings taken over wallpaper?
- was there any evidence of water stains, drywall damage, mold?
- was the moisture meter accurate in the first place?

Simply going around with a moisture meter without taking all factors into consideration can lead to inaccurate assumptions so let's use the following scenario:

High relative humidity during testing with no air conditioning and windows open. If done properly and the moisture readings throughout the house were consistently in the range of 17%, I would not be concerned.

Wow- Good points Steve !

I know this is an old thread, but thought I would post this chart in case someone searching for answers happens to stop by.

crawlspaceconcepts.com/wp-content/uploads/moisturecontent.jpg



Hope this helps.