Shoutout to the $89 laser level from the big box store that saved my backsplash job in Tucson
I have been laying tile for 11 years and always used a chalk line and a torpedo level like my old boss taught me. When a buddy told me to grab a cheap self leveling laser for a kitchen backsplash in Tucson, I figured it would drift and I would be fighting it all morning. That little $89 unit held dead on across 14 feet of wall and the homeowner actually asked what I was using when she saw the lines. I ran 60 square feet of subway tile with almost no shims and zero lippage callbacks, which has not happened on a wall that long for me before. Now I am second guessing every job where I skipped it because I thought lasers were for the guys doing commercial work. Has anyone had one of these cheap ones go out of calibration on them after a few months, or do they actually hold up?