They’re not just for hanging pictures and shelves.
Well, sure, you can use them for that, though if your house is old and has settled a tad, an absolutely level picture arrangement will end up looking awry. In fact, laser levels are useful for a lot more than that.
Laser levels work by projecting a line out onto a surface; they can shoot a mark long distances with accuracy within an eight of an inch.
The advantages are many. You can get instant level across a large area, which saves time and eliminates the risk of incremental error as you move a regular carpenter’s level from one place to another. They’re easy to work from; simply trace the line. Or use the red line; unlike a pencil line, it will disappear immediately off painted walls, saving cleanup. Lasers are simple to set up and not as finicky as transits or water levels. (The good ol’ water level is still the only method to check level around obstructions in one step, though.)
Laser levels come in a variety of models, but features you’ll want to consider are self-leveling (sets up like magic), rotating (to get a 360 degree level in virtually one step) and the ease with which they can be mounted to a wall. If the level isn’t self-leveling, a fixed-point (a brighter red dot) lets you quickly get a single level point across a distance by only leveling one of the spirit levels. If you’re doing a major building project, you might even consider remote control setups that allow one person to level a big job, such as a foundation.
Here are just a few of the ways you can use them.
- leveling sill plates and finding top plate locations
- plumbing walls
- keeping door and window heights consistent
- marking for chair rails
- establishing a reference level for kitchen cabinets
- keeping electrical outlets and switchboxes at a consistent height
- hanging suspended ceilings
- getting a good slope in a run of plumbing
- finding fixture locations on ceilings more easily; simply measure it out on the floor and shoot a line up to the ceiling
- setting tiles on floors or walls
- marking stakes to get level or drainage grades from a patio
So, use your eye for your picture hanging and get down to real work.