Just realized my cheap level was lying to me for 6 months

After hanging shelf after shelf that looked fine, a laser level I borrowed from a neighbor in Tulsa showed my $12 torpedo level was off by nearly a quarter inch, so I replaced it with a $45 stabila and now I re-check every surface I touched before.

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logan_ellis1mo ago

Same thing happened to me, checked every damn shelf I hung too, such a waste of time.

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leodavis1mo ago

Hold on though, I gotta play devil's advocate here. A cheap level can be dead on for years and then you bump it once on a ladder and it's toast, but that's on you for not dropping a plumb bob on it every so often. I've had a $10 special be perfectly true while a buddy's expensive one was off straight from the factory. A quarter inch over a shelf length is annoying but honestly, if it looked fine for 6 months, maybe it was fine enough for the job. I check my cheap levels against my door frame or a known flat counter before I trust them, takes two seconds. You don't need a $45 tool, you need to learn how to test what you already got.

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