I thought laser levels were a gimmick until I used one on a retaining wall

For like 10 years I was a string level guy all the way. Thought lasers were for guys who couldn't read a bubble. Then I took a job building a 60 foot retaining wall in Tacoma last fall and the ground was way too uneven to pull a tight string. Borrowed a Bosch GLL from my buddy and honestly it saved me like 3 hours of rework on the first course alone. The thing kept every block dead level across the whole run without me having to climb up and down 50 times. Now I feel kinda dumb for being stubborn about it so long. Has anyone else switched over from old school methods and felt dumb for waiting?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_harper11d ago

...and that's exactly what happened to my neighbor Stan up in Bellingham. He spent 30 years doing concrete work with nothing but a string and a 4-foot level. Last summer he had to pour a sidewalk that curved around a big oak tree and he was out there for two days trying to get the grade right with his old methods. His son finally bought him a DeWalt laser level for his birthday and Stan called me that night almost mad about how easy it was. He said he felt like he'd been carving wood with a pocket knife when chainsaws existed the whole time.

jordangibson11d ago

Wait, am I the only one who thinks there's something to be said for the old way though? I get that the laser level made the job way faster, but Stan spent 30 years reading a site with his hands and eyes, and that kind of skill is hard to replace. There's something to knowing the ground by feel that you just can't get from a gadget, you know? And what happens when the battery dies on that DeWalt mid-pour and the sun's going down, and there's no backup? The old methods might be slower, but they'll never leave you stranded.