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Showerthought: I used to think those laser levels were just for show.
For years I thought a good string line and my eyes were all I needed, and that lasers were a gimmick for guys who liked fancy tools. Then I got a job laying a long, straight garden wall for a client in Scottsdale who insisted on one. After the first course, I checked it with the laser and I was off by a quarter inch over 20 feet. That thing saved me a ton of time fixing my work later. Now I use it on every single foundation line. Anyone else have a tool they fought against that they now can't work without?
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tylerg304d ago
You used to think string line and your eyes were enough, that hits home. What nobody talks about though is how much time lasers save you when the ground itself is uneven. I was setting posts for a deck on a sloped yard, and the laser let me find the high spots way faster than walking up and down with a level. Without it, I would have dug half the holes twice. That quarter inch you caught would have turned into a headache down the road for sure.
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the_evan4d ago
And then you gotta think about the time you waste leveling and releveling when you're working solo, right? I was out there building a fence last summer, same kind of slope issue, and I swear I must have walked back and forth to my truck for the bubble level like ten times before I gave in and bought a cheap laser. It's funny how we all start out thinking we can eyeball it, like our dads and granddads did, but the ground today ain't what it used to be either with all the settling and drainage issues. My neighbor's yard has that weird dip near the property line where the old septic tank was buried, and you'd never catch that with just string. Plus, I ended up using that laser for hanging cabinets in the kitchen later, so it paid for itself twice over. But yeah, I hear you on the quarter inch thing, that's the kind of mistake that makes you wanna kick yourself six months later when the gate starts dragging.
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