Had a talk with an old timer at the union hall yesterday

I was waiting for a meeting and got to chatting with a guy who's been in the trade since the 70s. He told me he never uses a laser level for guide rail work, just a good old plumb bob and his own eyes. Said lasers make people lazy and they miss the small shifts that happen during installation. That stuck with me because I've been relying on my laser for years and I never really thought about what I might be missing. Has anyone else gone back to older methods and found they work better?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_barbara3d ago

@clark.joel makes a solid point about catching shifts sideways. That exact thing happened to me on a stair rail job last spring. Set the laser, walked away, came back and the whole thing had drooped like a quarter inch on one side. Would have caught it with a plumb bob because you're literally standing right there watching it settle. The problem with lasers is you set it up, trust it, and then forget to double check it against reality. Maybe it's just me but I've started doing both on tricky runs - laser for the rough layout, then a quick string line or bob check before I start screwing anything down. Takes maybe two extra minutes and saves a headache later. The old timers might not be right about everything but they usually have reasons for the stuff they swear by.

clark.joel3d ago

Read somewhere that some of the old guys say your eyes get lazy with lasers because you stop checking for movement after you set it up. Makes sense to me since I've definitely had a rail shift on me before and only caught it by chance when I was on a ladder looking at it from the side. Might be worth ditching the laser on my next job just to see if my finish quality actually goes up.

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