PSA: Check your bevel gauge before you start cutting that expensive glass

I was installing a custom shower door in a new build, a big 3/4 inch thick piece of tempered glass. Spent an hour getting the frame up, everything looked square. The second I went to set the glass, the top corner was a solid 1/8 inch off. My helper just said, 'Boss, your level looks crooked.' Turns out the vial in my 48 inch aluminum level had shifted. I'd been trusting that thing for probably three years. How many other jobs did I fight with because of that? What's your go-to method for checking your tools are actually true?

3 comments

3 Comments

max33022d ago

Checking a level every single time is overkill (that's just adding busywork). A good tool should hold its calibration, and if it doesn't, the manufacturer messed up.

rose_grant7821d ago

My old foreman in Phoenix had a rule, check your level against a known plumb line at the start of every big job. Takes two minutes. A tool is just a hunk of metal, it can get knocked around in the truck. Trusting it blindly for years is how you waste a whole day fixing one mistake.

veramiller3d ago

Honestly, my dad's old framing square was off by a full quarter inch after a summer in his hot truck bed.