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Shoutout to the $75 laser level I finally bought for a tricky chimney job
I was setting up a herringbone pattern on a fireplace rebuild last month and my old string lines just weren't cutting it for keeping things square. I grabbed a basic laser level from the supply house and it saved me probably two hours of fussing and rechecking my work. Has anyone else found a specific tool that made a complex pattern way easier to handle?
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ross.lily5mo ago
The biggest win for me was being able to lock in the 45-degree lines and then just work off the laser grid for the whole section. My old method meant constantly rechecking the string lines every few tiles because a bump would knock them out of whack. With the laser on a steady tripod, I could lay a whole course without even looking up, knowing the guide was perfect. It basically turned a job that needs a lot of brain power into one that just needs hands.
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aaron_mitchell3mo ago
Yo, has your buddy ever had a laser line die mid job? Mine was laying out a big diagonal floor and the battery went flat right after he locked in the first row. He was so confident he didn't check for another 20 tiles, then realized the whole thing was off by half an inch. Had to pull them all up and start over, so I guess the tool can bite you too if you trust it too much.
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faith_hart205mo ago
You said it turned a job needing brain power into one just needing hands. I get what you mean, but your brain is still doing plenty. You're still reading the laser lines and placing each tile. The tool just takes the constant worry out of it so you can focus on the actual laying. It's less mental fatigue, not zero mental work. The confidence that nothing has shifted is the real game changer.
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nathan1005mo ago
That herringbone pattern sounds like a nightmare without a laser! What was the biggest time-saver with it, was it the speed of setting the lines or the confidence that everything stayed perfectly square as you worked?
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