Can anyone recommend a laser tape measure for under $50? I don't need to survey my two acre lot, just measure some room dimensions.
For that matter, are laser measurers truly useful or just a gadget?
Lowe's had two (don't recall the brand) but both had been opened, resealed, and put back on the shelf. That led me to believe that they had been sold and then returned by dissatisfied customers.
I've been wishing for one of those, but I can't justify the $300 pricetag. I'd love to be able to measure a 200-foot-long room to the nearest 1/16 of an inch without walking.
In the meanwhile, I have an ultrasonic tape measure that's good to the nearest 1/4", I think. That's close enough for estimating a painting job.
I need it close enough to measure molding: baseboard and ceiling.
If it's under 50 bucks it's just a gadget--they're really ultrasonic. For one that uses the laser for distance measurement and has any kind of real accuracy you're looking at over 150 bucks for a Leica Disto or one of its competitors.
I don't know if there is such a device in that price range. I can recommend the Leica Disto D2, but it is around $200..but a 'real' measuring tool and consistently within 1/16 when measuring countertops and backsplashes. I have no idea how often you will use this, but if you're making a living with it...buy it.
(I wish I would have bought the D3..but you hafta stop somewhere. Those Leica guys make one which bluetooths to your laptop *drools*)
r
One of my employees trusted the electronic type for ordering carpet, an expensive mistake. We replaced it with an laser model from Bosch and haven't had trouble, but it was many times that cost. (though less than what we lost on the carpet project)
Just doing the occasional home improvement project. I'm remodeling a
6' x 8' entrance foyer and I'd like to use single pieces of molding. Hence the desire for accurate measurement.
Then I'd use two 4-foot sticks and two small c-clamps. Work it like a depth gauge. Very accurate.
Better make that 5-foot sticks, otherwise you would get any overlap at your 8' measurement..
And the reason that a plain ordinary tape measure from Sears won't work for this purpose is -- ?
You can do what Robatoy suggests or measure out from one wall 2', make a mark, measure from the other wall to that mark and add 2' to that measurement. Solves the problem of having to guess what the bent tape is telling you.
On Jul 20, 7:12 pm, Richard Evans wrote: both had been opened, resealed, and put back on the shelf.
Or, the customer bought one, carefully unpacked it (I use a razor blade to make the minimal cuts in that plastic packaging), measured his one or two rooms, re-packaged it and returned it saying "I just couldn't get it to work as expected."
Some things you really need to try before committing - wish you could do that with these @$(^)% computers and MS Operating Systems!
the most expensive wouldn't be good enough for cutting and fitting.
You can say that again!
The cheap laser things from B&D or HFT create a nice bright red light. But I wouldn't think of cutting my crown molding with only those as a standard.
Measure twice
While we are on the subject, I have a question about measuring "tricks" of the trade.
I am installing an old (single-panel tilt-out/kick-out) garage door in a barn I built - taking it off the house garage and installing it in the barn (replacing the one at the house with a new four-panel door).
The door is currently installed in a garage with a ceiling and te read supports are hung from that.
The barn has no ceiling, just the rafters exposed with two pitches (front part of roof is eight feet or so and the rear section about tweleve, so the pitch at front is steeper than at teh rear and the door spans the two (with the ridge beam off center of te door opening).
So, I have to place the hangers and fasten them to the rafters which are at different heights (where I need connect them to the rafters) relative to the concrete slab below. Essentially, I need to find a point "in space" where the hangers will meet the rear of teh horizontal supports/wheel chase(s) the top of the door rides in when opened.
I don't have a helper to hold one end of a tape. I have made a story board marked to the distance the old hangers are from the existing installation - two-by set perpendicular to the floor on a rudimentary "stand" and marked at the 80" point as a reference.
I've placed a couple of two by six boards between the two rafters in te approximate location to hold the angle "iron" from which the support arms will "dangle" and leveled those surfaces so the "angle iron will lay square relative to space and the flooring.
Thee are no interior walls - just the exposed studs at this point so the laser levels I have light up a piece of framing here and there but do not provide a nice clean line to followand I don't trust them all that much when I can see them.
The door is about nine feet wide by seven feet tall.
I need to establish the mounting points before I remove the door so as to accomplish the R&R and swap in one day lest we finally get some heavy rains while the doors are down and the garage & barn open to the elements.
As indicaed, I am moving along, but thought to ask here for any tips and techniques for that second measurement before committing. I have a six-foot level (and shorter levels as well, carpenter's square(s) ad tape measures, plumb bob(s) and line levels. Also have a B&D laser level thing and another that does a right angle level/plumb (one beam out the right side, the other out the top side) and can be locked to "shoot" a fixed right angle for "layout."
Would appreciate a Reply to Sender if you have a technique I might better employ.
Thanks.
Admittedly, I've only done 3-4 rooms of moulding, but I just cut them a little long and then trim until they fit.
Greg M
"Greg M" wrote in
That is definitely the preferred method. I try to do that one all the time.
But I have measured repeatedly, then cut the moulding too short. This is followed by the obligatory profanity which is followed by a trip to the store to buy more moulding.
Ever tried standing on a ladder and supporting eight feet of tape from one end of the room to another? Sure, the distance at the floor should be the same as the distance at the ceiling, but who knows.
That, and I like gadgets. Ones that work, anyway.
=2E..and to buy a 4 foot piece of rubber radiator hose to slap yourself out with.... or with which you slap yourself out.
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