help with grey

[CompletelyClean 14]

I stripped (Thompsons) from this deck on Tuesday and neutralized it. We had rain Tuesday night (a lot). Stopped by to check moisture on Wednesday and the highest perentage I got was 9% in a few areas. My question is this...if the battery needs to be replaced in the moisture meter, will it give a lower reading than what is actually true? I will be replacing the battery anyway, but I'm curious if that's what it REALLY is. The grey areas were not damp to the touch, yet looked like they were damp and they measured at 9%. I wonder if I'll need to bleach these areas if it's not the meter?

[Everett Abrams 501]

I would have to say 9% is pretty hard to believe. I would check the battery. If it still doesn't work throw it as hard as you can against a brick wall and replace.

[Firedkm 14]

Bryan,

Are you sure the gray areas are not fuzzies? The fuzzies can make the board look grey.

[CompletelyClean 14]

Positive they are not fuzzies. I felt the areas with my hand tosee if it was damp.

I'll be replacing batteries and re-checking.

[Dale 16]

What kind of meter do you have? I use an old electrophics that has a toggle for a wet/dry mode. If it was in the dry mode 9 percent correspondes to about 18 percent. Its just a thought.

[James 625]

Did you get the finish off ? Some times if there is still a finish on there you are getting a reading below the finish . So the sealer is still working. Or just change the freaking battery before you turn on the computor..LOL....

[CompletelyClean 14]

I changed the battery and went back to the job. The readings were around 9% before battery change and 10-12% after. So, I put a little water on some of the grey...soaked right in, no beading whatsoever. So...I used a SS brush and scrubbed those areas to see if there was some deadwood there. Voila, off it came and I was able to stain the deck today 12 hours before the thundershowers arrived. I would show you the pics, but in the course of changing batteries, etc. I forgot my memory card for the digital. I'll be taking some pics next week. This neighborhood has been keeping me busy with people asking for estimates and landing a few of them, too. Gotta love when that happens!