Spent 2 hours leveling pavers before I noticed my mistake

Last weekend I was putting in a small patio. Kept checking level with a 2-foot level. Looked fine. My buddy stopped by and asked why I wasn't using a string line. Dropped a string across and saw the whole thing was off by an inch. Had been eyeballing it section by section. Whole time I was just making it worse. Anyone else skip the simple tools and regret it later?

3 comments

3 Comments

tara6429d ago

My buddy did almost the exact same thing with a retaining wall last summer. He'd been checking level with a little torpedo level on each block and it looked fine. Then his wife came out and held up a string line and the whole thing was like a roller coaster. He still brings it up every time someone mentions working in the yard.

iris9278d ago

That guy must have been way off if a string line showed it that bad. A torpedo level is good enough for most small jobs if you check every few blocks. @tara642 I think his wife just had a sharper eye than he gave her credit for.

patricia_gonzalez8d ago

It's funny he still brings it up, but honestly that string line trick is a lifesaver for longer runs like a retaining wall. @tara642 I think the real issue is that a torpedo level only shows you if one block is level by itself, not if they're all lined up straight with each other. Even a tiny tilt on each block adds up fast over twenty feet or more. The wife probably saved him from a wall that would have looked wavy from the street, which is way worse than just having to redo it then.