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Found a use for my old chalk line that saved me 2 hours on a garden wall in Boise
I was laying a curved garden wall last week in Boise and kept fighting the string line on the radius. Every time I moved it the curve went wavy and I had to keep checking with a tape. Then I tried snapping a chalk line right on the footing itself to mark my face line, then just laid to the powder mark. Cut my setup time from about 30 minutes to 10, and the curve stayed true the whole run, 140 bricks total. I know it sounds dumb but nobody ever showed me that and I've been doing this 12 years. Anyone else mark curves straight on the footing or do you all have a better trick for tight radii?
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taylorhunt2d ago
The chalk line trick works great on the footing, but saying it cut setup "from about 30 minutes to 10" makes it sound like the snapping is what saved you. The real time saver is not having to recheck every few bricks with a tape. I've done the same thing on tight radii and the powder mark holds up fine until somebody walks through it or it rains. Then you're re-snapping or worse, laying to a ghost line you can barely see. For a 140 brick run in Boise dry heat you were probably fine, but on a longer curve I'd snap it in chunks so you always have a fresh mark ahead of you.
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