I was dead wrong about using a level every three courses

For ten years I thought checking level every few rows was just a crutch for people who couldn't lay a straight line by eye. Took a job on a retaining wall in Portland last spring, 40 feet long, and I got cocky. By the time I hit course eight the whole thing was leaning a quarter inch to the left over ten feet. Had to tear out two full days of work and start over. Now I set my line and check level every third course without fail. Anyone else have a stubborn habit they had to break the hard way?

3 comments

3 Comments

adams.faith2mo ago

@grant728 nailed it... that compounding thing is sneaky. What nobody talks about is how the ground itself can settle under a wall while you're working, throwing your level off even if you're dead on the first time.

grant7282mo ago

Shortsightedness compounds just like a crooked wall, one bad call sets up the next.

piper_dixon451mo ago

Oh give me a break. Checking level every three courses is just paranoid overthinking. I've been laying block for fifteen years and I still only check maybe every five or six rows. You guys act like a quarter inch over ten feet is a disaster. That's nothing. Concrete work settles and shifts anyway, you're gonna have hairline adjustments no matter what you do. The real problem isn't the level, it's not knowing when to just trust your eye and your line.