How do I use a string line?
A string line is about the cheapest tool in the shed and it does a job nothing else can, because it gives you a straight reference over a far longer distance than any level, whether that's a fence line or the top of a retaining wall.
What you need
You need a good bricklayers line and a peg or stake at each end to tie it to, and a line level clips onto the string when you want it level rather than just straight. Bricklayers line is made to be pulled tight without stretching much, which ordinary garden string isn't, and the fluoro colours are a lot easier to see against dirt.
Setting it up
Drive a peg in a little past each end of the run rather than right on the corner, because then the string isn't in your way when you dig the post hole or lay the first brick. Tie off at one end and pull the line as tight as you can before you tie the other, because a sagging line is a line you can't trust. On a long run a support partway along stops the string drooping in the middle.
Straight isn't the same as level
A tight string is always straight, but it isn't level unless you make it level. Hang a line level in the middle of the run and move one end up or down its peg until the bubble sits in the centre. On sloping ground, decide first whether you want the work to follow the slope or step down it, because that changes where the line goes.
Keep it just off the work
Set the line a few millimetres off the face of whatever you're building and measure to it, rather than letting the work touch it, because the moment anything presses on the string it's no longer straight.
Squaring a corner
For a corner that needs to be square, measure 3 along one line and 4 along the other, and when the diagonal between those two marks measures 5 the corner is square. It works in metres or any other unit you like, and the bigger you make the triangle the more accurate it is.
Marking a flat surface
When you need a straight line marked onto a sheet or a slab rather than held in the air, a chalk line does the same job in one snap.
Shop related products
- Bricklayers Line, 100 Metre. Pulls tight without much stretch.
- Supercraft Chalk Line Reel, 30m. For marking a straight line onto a flat surface.
- Rubber Mallet, 675g. Drives pegs in without splitting the tops.
- Supercraft Anodised Box Level, 1200mm. For checking posts and brickwork as you go.
- Supercraft Hi-Vis Tape Measure, 8m. Long enough for the 3, 4, 5 corner check.
Did you know we also keep a clip-on line level and line pins in the shop, and they aren't on the website. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.
The rest of the hand tools that are online sit in hand tools. If you're on the tools every day, there's more about trade accounts on our trade customers page.
Read next
- How to fix loose fence palings so they stay put
- How to read a tape measure properly
- Essential tools every first time homeowner needs
I check a string line twice before I trust it, which is the whole point of having one.
Candeece
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