Pro tip: Keep a dry erase marker in your toolbox for marking studs - learned this after a wiring disaster in a Reno condo.

I was helping a buddy wire a new outlet in his 1970s condo near downtown Denver. We spent 45 minutes hunting for studs with a cheap scanner, marking spots with pencil that kept smudging on the paneling. Finally gave up, went to the corner store for a marker, and bam - it stuck perfectly, easy to see, and wiped off clean. Now I stash one in every toolbox. Saved me time and frustration on three jobs since. Anyone else got a random tool that solved a dumb problem like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_rodriguez14d ago

I used to think a sharp pencil was enough, but you just convinced me otherwise.

piper_lopez14d ago

Heard a story from a buddy who used a similar trick but in reverse. He was trying to hang a mirror in his bathroom and marked the drywall with a pencil, but the line kept smudging when he wiped it. He grabbed a piece of masking tape instead, drew his mark on the tape, and it stayed put through the whole job. Now he keeps a roll of that tape in his work bag for anything that needs a clean reference line. It's the little fixes like that which make you wonder why you didn't think of it sooner.