Old timer at the supply yard told me to stop leveling every course with a string line and I laughed at first

He said 'son, your eye is better than any line if you just trust it' and after 20 years of fighting with sagging strings on long walls I finally tried his way on a 60 foot retaining wall last Tuesday and honestly it came out straighter than any of my level jobs and took half the time - anyone else ever ditch the line or am I the only crazy one?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel5931mo ago

Took me 15 years to learn that same lesson, wish I'd listened sooner.

the_jenny1mo ago

I mean I heard this old mason talk about it once on some building podcast, and he said the same thing about trusting your eye over a line for long runs. Said strings sag no matter how tight you pull them over 30 feet, but your brain naturally compensates for dips and bumps. I tried it on a 40 foot block wall last month with no line, just a few marks at each end, and it surprised me how straight it came out. Still use a line for short stuff under 20 feet though, old habits.

gavinw451mo ago

@daniel593 probably learned that the hard way after a 50 foot wall looked like a snake.