Talked to an old framer about layout nails, wish I had earlier

I was on a job near Tacoma last week and an older framer, must be 60 plus, saw me snapping lines for a wall layout. He asked why I was using a chalk line when a few well placed 16d nails in the subfloor would do the same thing. At first I thought he was joking, but he showed me how he sets his long walls with a string pulled tight between two nails, no chalk dust to blow away or snap crooked. It hit me different because I've spent 7 years overcomplicating layouts with lasers and chalk when the simple method is faster and just as accurate on a clean floor. Anyone else switch to that method, or do you still stick with the chalk line for speed?

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karenh5622d ago

Tried it after watching an old guy do the same thing, and yeah, it's hard to go back on a clean floor. The string never lies, and you skip all the cleanup when the chalk gets knocked around.