Been laying a herringbone pattern for a patio in Tacoma and just realized my string lines were off by half an inch the whole first day.

2 comments

2 Comments

Man, that "half an inch the whole first day" hits hard. I used to think a small error would just work itself out as you went. Then I helped a friend with a tile floor and we were off by maybe a quarter inch on the first row. By the time we hit the far wall, the gap was over an inch and we had to tear it all out. Now I check my lines every few feet, no matter what.

wesleyw461mo ago

Tell me about it. I built a shed once and didn't square the base right. The walls went up okay, but when I tried to put the roof on, nothing lined up. I spent more time with a pry bar and a sledgehammer forcing things than I did building it. My neighbor still calls it the leaning tower of garden tools. Lesson learned the hard way.