abbyc33•1mo agoMost Upvoted

Tried the 'hold your tape measure like a hook' trick on a big commercial job

Last month I was laying out some steel studs for a 40-foot wall in a new office build near Portland. An old drafter I used to work with always swore by hooking your tape on the flange instead of the edge for better accuracy, so I finally tried it on a full layout. Ended up being off by almost a half inch on one end because the hook kept slipping on the painted surface. I'm curious if anyone else has had that trick backfire on them, or if I just did it wrong.

2 comments

2 Comments

thompson.robin1mo ago

Oh man, "hook kept slipping on the painted surface" - that exact thing bit me on a similar job a few years back. I was doing layout for a retail space and figured I'd try that hook-on-the-flange trick everyone talks about. Turned out the paint was slick as hell and the hook just would not stay put. I ended up being off by about three eighths on one end and had to redo a whole section of track. In my experience, that trick only really works on bare metal or maybe a rough surface. Painted steel studs are just too slippery for it to grab right. Your mileage may vary but I'd say you probably didn't do anything wrong, the surface just wasn't cooperating.

sarahh481mo ago

I bought a cheap roll of adhesive-backed sandpaper at the hardware store and cut little squares to stick right on the flange where the hook sits. That thing grabbed like crazy and never slipped even once. Saved me from having to redo the whole run like @thompson.robin had to. It takes two seconds to stick on and you just peel it off when you're done. Worked way better than trying to scuff the paint with sandpaper on the job.