I am wondering what the best way is to square up a stepped foundation with 8 ft plus walls.I have done it bringing tapes down on an angle then having a parralel line which you square off from .kind of rough explanation.Should you use a transit for most accurate ? It always comes out fine yet I know I used to do alot of things the hard way until someone or something showed me the obvious.Just curious what other people do .Thanks in advance for any help.
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Measure inside to inside of the foundation walls.
I'm only half as dumb as I look.
This is a great excuse to buy a tool :-) I'll describe how we do it with basically perfect accuracy and it's really easy.
First off we use the PLS 5.
Set it up to square on top of the 8' walls and once you've got square, just leave the laser there. With that laser dot you can plumb down at each step. To be honest, we just use a level and shoot one of the ridges on the level. Hold it plumb and then mark on the concrete. It's really easy.
For laying out the interior plates, we again use the laser, but we set it on the slab. I stand on a 3' step ladder and hook my plate on the outside sill and then hold the tape in the air and someone below me moves the laser until the dot touches the number on the tape that you want. Here are a couple of pics that kind of show what I'm saying, but the steps are small.
In this picture http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL293/2163851/9368298/136489744.jpg Jasen has his tape hooked and he just will just move the laser until the dot hits his number then mark the concrete. It works really well.
Its a little easier to see in these pics
http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL293/2163851/11350387/181084185.jpg
http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL293/2163851/11350387/181084168.jpg
http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL293/2163851/11350387/181084176.jpg
You don't have to get that laser, but it is very versatile and we haven't had any complaints. We've been using it for about 3 years.
Jason looks like Dave Mathews. :)
I agree with your technique BTW. I just got the laser a couple months ago, but man can they get you out of some jams and make life easier.View Image
Brian,
It's the forehead, they have the same forehead :-) I'm going to the concert for 2 nights in 2 weeks and I can't wait
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=5177572&uid=2163851&members=1
http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL293/2163851/5177572/109640570.jpg
Also we use the laser to plumb walls. Just split the dot at the bottom plates and at the top and its perfect and no one has to hold a level. It makes it easy to plumb and align by yourself.
Just don't kick the level :-)