Overheard a guy at the supply house say he uses a drywall square to check his studs are straight

Tried that out yesterday on a closet wall and it caught two studs that were a quarter inch off, has anyone else used a square like that or am I just behind the times?

3 comments

3 Comments

xenaf5122d ago

Behind the times"? Man, you were living in the future while the rest of us were still eyeballing it. A quarter inch off is basically a stud having a bad day.

the_anthony21d ago

My buddy Mike tried to do a shelf install once and his tape measure had a little kink in it he didn't notice. He measured everything twice, cut all his boards, and somehow ended up with a full inch gap on one side. Dude was ready to throw the whole toolbox out the window. He ended up just shimming the whole thing and calling it "character." Your quarter inch comment brought that whole disaster right back to me, lol.

wendysanchez21d ago

Oh man, I've been there with a busted tape measure too. That hook on the end gets bent just a little bit and suddenly you're off by an eighth inch on every single cut. My trick now is I always check the end of my tape against the little slot on the case, make sure the hook slides back and forth like it's supposed to and sits flat. If it's wobbly or the rivets are loose, I just grab a new one, they're like eight bucks at the hardware store. Also, for shelves I always measure from the same reference point on both sides, like the floor or the ceiling, not from opposite ends of the wall. That way if the wall itself is out of square, which most are, you catch it before you cut. Your buddy's "character" fix is basically the unofficial motto of every DIYer who's ever fought with a crooked house.