black.mark•7d agoOG Member

Dropped $80 on a cheap laser level and it burned me on a drywall job

I was framing out a closet in a house over in Oak Park and figured I'd save some cash with a no-name brand from Amazon... big mistake. The line drifted half an inch after I set it down and moved a step stool near it. Ended up having to re-mark all my studs with a chalk line and add a whole extra hour to the day. Has anyone else had a cheap laser level screw up a layout like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_patel417d ago

Man oh man, that exact same thing happened to me with a cheap laser from some random brand on Amazon. I was so mad I almost threw it across the room. @wright.jesse is totally right, the little bit of extra cash for something like a DeWalt just saves your whole day. I had to re-mark a whole wall of studs once and it made me late for my next job, all because the line drifted a quarter inch. Now I just bite the bullet and spend a little more upfront, it's worth it not to waste my time.

wright.jesse7d ago

Yeah man I feel your pain. I grabbed a dewalt self leveling one on sale for like $130 a couple years back and it's been solid through all my drywall and framing work. Even knocked it off a sawhorse one time and it still held its calibration no problem. Sometimes spending a little more upfront saves you way more in time and materials later. That half inch drift is brutal when you're trying to keep your studs plumb and square.