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Appreciation post: my 2 foot level saved me on a wavy wall in Decatur
I was laying a garden wall on a job in Decatur last Tuesday and the footing looked fine from the string line, so I just went up course by course. By the fourth course the whole thing was leaning about half an inch out over 6 feet, all because the footing had a low spot the string never showed me. I tore it down that same day and reset it, then ran my 2 foot level on every single course after that and it came out dead plumb. Do you guys check every course or trust the line and only spot check once in a while?
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finley_smith12d ago
Learned that one the hard way too, but it wasn't the string line that lied to you. A line only reads level corner to corner, it can't see a dip in the middle of the footing. You can have both corners dead on and still have a low spot right in the middle, and the line just bridges right over it like nothing's wrong. That's why the lean showed up around the fourth course, the wall finally piled up enough weight to follow the dip. So yeah, trust the line for straight, but check the footing itself with a level before you ever lay the first course. After that spot checking every few courses is fine as long as your bed joints are even.
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