Here are 4 laser level tricks to make it work harder on your next project.
I love using a laser level. It’s a smart tool to have on site.
Clamp it trick
Bouncy floors jostling the level around and giving you a light show while you try to snap lines or set tile? Frustrating. That was the case on this job. The answer: Clamp the level to something that stays still even while the floors bounce, like a door hinge.
Use the dark trick
I love this trick and wish I could say it was my invention. In really bright rooms like this kitchen reno or outdoors, say building a deck, the sun can wash out the light. The trick: Grab something dark and use it to find the light.
Before you snap trick
On most projects, we use our laser level to set a reference line. It doesn’t show a location, it just shows what level (or plumb) is. When you then measure from that line to the location we need to install things like chair rail or cabinets. Once we find our location, we usually snap a line and put the laser away.
Project the tile line trick
On tiling jobs, in particular the first course of subway tile, snapping a line is challenging because you immediately obscure it with thinset. Instead, use the laser to project the line. It won’t matter how much thinset you spread on the wall, you’ll always be able to see where the next tile goes.
And that’s one more thing to like about Bosch’s versatile Pendulum System. It really does make getting the tool right where it’s needed pretty easy and secure.
Laser level tool review
The laser level and stand in these photos is the Bosch’s MM2. And the stand is one key to the line-projecting, level-in-an-instant beauty of lasers.
It’s more like an articulating knuckle you’d see on a TV crew’s expensive light stands or something for a camera. It twists, turns, grabs and locks in all kinds of positions and places, meaning I can get more out of the same tool with zero effort.
Another shot of the unit set on some cabinet bases. Really, I just like this photo. The tool looks somewhere between a Sandwalker impersonating Boba Fet. A little charisma never hurt on the jobsite.
The Bosch GLL 2 is packaged with a laser distance meter. More of a pro tool, they’re great for measuring occupied rooms. Point and shoot. If you’re a remodeler and need to measure a basement reno and that basement is full of stuff, these are handy. Whole kit is about $150.
Do you have any laser level tricks and tips? What’s your go-to laser level?
