Level (With a Laser) and Square

Today we braved the cold and set out to set up our batter boards and lay out our string lines for the foundation. I had already cut the stakes and boards and gathered all the other equipment we'd need including string, water level, screws, etc. 

Water level? I had used one of those in the past to layout a garage foundation years ago, and while they work great they sure are a hassle to use. You always have to be mindful of where the ends of the water hose are before uncapping them or else you'll surely get wet, and then have to refill the hose. So...in you recall in a previous post I told you to to remember the excavators use of a self-leveling rotating laser level? Well, that thing was pretty slick. So after much deliberation, I splurged and bought a Johnson Level & Tool Co. Model 40-6515 laser level kit. Complete package including the level, detector, grade stick, tripod and a nice case to contain everything. 

And what do I have to say after using it so set the batter boards? Money well spent! It was a piece of cake and made quick work of setting all the boards perfectly level with one another and at the exact height to match the existing foundation. I'll be using the laser level again when we start work on the porch foundation, and I'll always have other uses around the house for it. It's one of those things you wonder how you ever did without it. Now if only I had it last year when I made that retaining wall all around the barn...

To backtrack a bit, we started by pounding in the posts where we needed them. They were located out away from the footing so they wouldn't get in our way later. I pounded them in using one of those steel fence post drivers. Worked great. Then I set the laser level up on the tripod and clamped the detector to the grade stick. That's all there is to it. Turn it on and it self levels and begins spinning around. You can't see the laser in the daylight, but the detector can and will let you know with with a series of beeps and LED's when you get close and then hit the mark.

I had marked on the existing foundation the spot that I wanted the new foundation to come up to. This will be 3/4" below the current foundation as we are using 9-1/2" I-joists (existing house has 9" lumber) and 3/4" subfloor (existing house uses 1/2" plywood) which accounts for the difference. So I set the bottom of the grade stick on the mark and adjusted the detector to signal it had detected the laser. 

After that it was simply a matter of walking around to each stake in the ground, moving the stick until the detector beeped and marking the bottom of the stick with a pencil. 1x6 boards were screwed across the stakes at the level line all around the perimeter. That's it. 

The hard part was running the string lines. I couldn't think of a new way to make this easier. So out came the tape measures. I also printed out a foundation layout plan from my Sketchup plan that contained all of the diagonal measurements for the addition. Our oldest daughter came out of the nice warm house to help us. One person to hold one end of the tape measure, one to read the measurement, and one to move the line. So with three people working the lines, it wasn't too terribly bad. It was straightforward, but took a lot of walking around back and forth to get everything spot-on. 

And spot-on we did. When all was complete, my diagonal measurements were right on the mark from corner to corner, a nearly 40' distance. And I'm talking on-the-mark! Did you expect anything less? (Hint, my wife would tell you No). 

Next up is actually putting down some cement and laying some block. If only the weather would warm up...