Diamonds on a tape measure

[Dominick Fiumara]

Why are there diamonds on a tape measure. You know....the little black ones. What do they indicate? Cheers! Dominick

[Scott Cramer]

On 13 Oct 2003, Dominick Fiumara spake unto rec.woodworking:

How far apart are they? If 16", they're for laying out studs. If not, then I don't know either.

[JD]

They are typically 16' on center for laying out studs in wood frame construction.

-Jack

[mttt]

If they're 19.2 inches apart - truss layout.

[xEcute]

I was told many years ago by an old craftsman that the diamonds were for gauging wallpaper as each mark represented a rolls width. This was back it the days before the wallpaper came pre-trim to width.

[DJ Delorie]

They're for spacing things five to the 8' panel. Usually, studs are

16" on center (the red marks), or 6 per 8'. The black diamonds are 5 per 8', and every two feet makes 4 per 8'.

The down side of 5 per 8' is that you don't have anything at the 4' mark so you can't alternate your 4x8 panels like you do with 16" spacing. You'd have to use a different pattern.

[George M. Kazaka]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

That's the woman's version. Some have rubies.

[YesMaam27577]

In general, the red diamonds are 16" apart, allowing 4 studs (and three spaces) to support a 4' sheet of ply or drywall.

And the black ones are about 19.2", allowing six studs (five spaces) to support an 8' sheet. (This is primarily used in commercial work, where steel studs are used to hold long sheets -- 12' and longer -- of drywall.)

[Young Carpenter]

I just love to hear the replies when someone asks this question. Everyone has a different opinion. And it's interesting to see the uses by the guys who didn't have a clue and came up with their own uses. It is a framing mark, and it is used as a layout for certain trussing, I used them in school for Truss-joist systems.

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 14:10:43 GMT, Scott Cramer pixelated:

Ayup. Constructioncritters use 'em for laying out tubafores.

[Grandpa]

Wussa tubafore? Sumfin ya play ina marchin band?

[admin]

Nah! but it's been known to be wrapped in a marichino band

it's the appitizer you have, before the tuba-ate.

[Dennis M. O'Connor]

"YesMaam27577" wrote om...

It's also the spacing on the pre-fab wood trusses holding up the roof of my addition, because the engineer at the truss plant said we needed that _or_ 2x6 top chords to make the trusses stiff enough that the ceiling drywall wouldn't crack, so I said "Do both."

"Over-built" (like "over-kill") is an oxymoron. :-)

[Traves W. Coppock]

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 22:54:55 -0600, Grandpa Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

Its kinda like a dickiefore

Traves

[Jim K]

[Jeff Balcom]

They are 19.2 inches apart and they are used for setting wood ibeam floor joist.They are much stronger than

2x.Ofcourse much more costly too.