I keep seeing guys skip the line check on long walls and it's a mess.

Worked on a big commercial job in Omaha last month and the crew before us laid about 80 feet of foundation brick without checking their line once. I mean not once. By the time we got there to start the veneer, the whole run was out by almost an inch and a half. We had to tear it all out. The foreman just shrugged and said, 'It looked straight from the end.' It doesn't matter how it looks from one spot. You have to check that line every ten, fifteen feet, especially with a breeze or if the ground isn't perfect. A snapped line isn't a set-it-and-forget-it thing. How do you guys handle keeping a long run true when you're working solo?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavin6921mo ago

Reminds me of how people skip steps in all kinds of jobs and it always comes back to bite them.

norab211mo ago

Maybe it's just me but sometimes you gotta trust your eye more than the line, especially if the ground's shifting. A string can lie to you too.

morgan8981mo ago

Wait, an inch and a half over 80 feet? That's insane... and the foreman just shrugged? @gavin692 is totally right about skipping steps coming back to bite you. A line isn't just a suggestion, it's the whole point of having one. You can't just eyeball something that long and expect it to work out. The breeze or a little bump will throw it off every time. It's pure laziness not to check it.