Spent two entire weekends just trying to get my paver base level.

The ground had a slight slope I didn't account for, so I had to remove and re-tamp about 4 cubic yards of gravel. Anyone have a better method for checking grade besides a 4-foot level on a 2x4?

3 comments

3 Comments

violar359h ago

Try using a water level, the kind with clear tubing between two stakes. It's way more forgiving over long distances than a rigid level (and cheaper than a laser). Saved me a ton of headache on my sloped backyard project.

ray_martinez828h ago

Water levels are a pain to set up by yourself though... you need two people and it's easy to get air bubbles that mess up the reading. For a sloped yard, a simple line level on some string is faster and just as good for most stuff. Lasers have gotten way cheaper too, you can find a decent one for under fifty bucks now.

jennifer8338h ago

My uncle used a water level when he was building a deck on a hill. He said the trick is to fill the hose completely, connect both ends, and then bring them together to check for bubbles before you even start. Once it's bubble free, you can mark level points all over the slope by yourself, just moving one stake at a time. It's slow but he said it was dead accurate over like a hundred feet, which his little laser couldn't even do.