Magnetic laser levels and restofun

[chunkolini]

I started refurbing my bedroom a few days ago.
oh joy in a 160+ year old house. Plan A. strip wallpaper, get plasterer in and then level the floor.
we stripped the wallpaper off one wall. Plaster looked a bit desperateThe plasterer said get it all off.
hideous job about an inch of black ash plaster and lord knows hat. Luckily I drove into work to get my airfed dust mask.
And bought a biG SDS drill

A few moments later

ive never seen anything like this before but had no dust issues with my dodgy lungs.
Trend helmet pricey but just justified itself again

The first wall came off in crumbs the second we left the bullet proof wallpaper on and it came off in twenty minutes in slabs
Lesson learned. Third wall was fine. Fourth wall probably holds the house up with fitted cupboards and is staying.
Polystyrene ceiling tiles came off fine; a miracle
an aside why would anyone line their house with firelighters?
as kids we used to make planes out of them and chuck them out of the windows on fire, the rising air would suck the plane up!

All promising then the ceiling fell in on the plasterers (half expected) as they started to board over the ceiling
Then when the plaster is all done time to sort the bowl shaped floor

Ive looked online and it looks sort of straightforward (stop laughing back there).
Sister the joists and level them using a laser.
so lift the old floorboards, find a level across the high point and bolt?screw new joists onto the sides of the old ones to that level. and pray that the old ones are not rotten
I think a magnetic level fixed to a piece of box section screwed onto a joist and set vertical should do it.
Mag levels? there are millions of them out there Im looking for an affordable reccomendation.
I dont think I need three or four axis hobbie but vertical and horizontal should do it but am I better going for the extras?
What can anybody reccomend?
I will publish updates as this adventure progresses

 

[roblane65]

Just bear in mind to level the floor away from a door way you don't want to be creating a step , and if I understand correctly " a bowl shape " you maybe lucky if its a sleeper floor and find any packers under the joists have either rotted or just dried up and fallen out , but without seeing anything first hand I could'nt offer anymore advise and good luck . A never ending source of joy old houses

 

[Nomad]

Last week I bought a laser level from Screwfix for a "nothing in the house is square" renovation I'm doing.

Not used it in anger yet but the self leveling mode and the bright vertical & horizontal LED beams projected across the room are exactly what I need. Under £30 in the sale - excellent value in my view

https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-green-self-levelling-cross-line-laser-level/805xt

They also have a red version for slightly more, I see no difference in the spec (apart from the colour of the beams), the green beams work well so why pay more...

 

[brightspark]

you can get decent make ones for under 80 quid now when i bought mine hardly anyone made them its made by pacific laser company and cost me 250 quid 18 years ago. it is nice mind and it gets well used for fitting recessed lights and sockets round kitchen walls

 

[Ali]

Last week I bought a laser level from Screwfix for a "nothing in the house is square" renovation I'm doing.

Not used it in anger yet but the self leveling mode and the bright vertical & horizontal LED beams projected across the room are exactly what I need. Under £30 in the sale - excellent value in my view

https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-green-self-levelling-cross-line-laser-level/805xt

They also have a red version for slightly more, I see no difference in the spec (apart from the colour of the beams), the green beams work well so why pay more...

The offer one looks like a better spec to me. I’ve got the more expensive one and it’s a pain it doesn’t work outdoors, I have to do all my fencing jobs at night.

 

[sparkysy]

Last week I bought a laser level from Screwfix for a "nothing in the house is square" renovation I'm doing.

They are an excellent laser, I have two of them for setting out down lights and all sorts of other tasks.
The mount they come with is handy too as it is magnetic and has screw holes in it.
What amazed me was that it has a 5 year guarantee. I looked at the DeWalt one of similar spec and it's twice the price and only 12 months guaranteed!

 

[Ian X]

All levels will sit nicely on a short tripod, you set the laser to peek out from between the joists to find a common level, bearing in mind if there are two or more doorways one may be lower than the other, always a fudge with old houses. If you are sistering joists you can clamp the first one in place while the laser is active, it's not easy keeping out of the way of the beam but with something as long as a joist you will easily find a position to sight the upper edge before placing a first clamp.
I would check the undersides of all the joist sockets before measuring anything. If they are bedded on thick mortar it may have crumbled or if wooden slips have been used to pack level they may have rotted. If any are loose I would use the level and whatever slate, steel, what-have-you to get the floor properly packed and gain some semblance of level. After that you can consider what fairings or sisterings you need.
Edited my post to include something I had not thought to include: If you do have two doorways and they are not level with each other you may lock the pendulum and sight the two thresholds, as far as I know all pendulum laser levels have that facility, it is a fudge but if the difference is small it may be acceptable to you.

 

[Ian X]

I stick my neck out to spam for the home grown marque Huepar. I have two, the first one is a two line green laser I bought eight years ago and it is still working as should. They will have something at a price that interests you, their warranty is good, a friend had an early one similar to my own and the vertical plane laser died, they replaced the unit after 18 months of use, I don't know what the warranty duration is in the UK, two years here.
The second level I bought late last year and while bored over Christmas took it to a friends place who has a recent model Hilti rotating level and a large open hangar to cast the beam upon. His level and mine concurred over 20 metres hoz and from ground to roof vertically, good enough for me but I am sure you can drop kick the Hilti further without losing your €1,200 box due to misuse.

 

[Ian X]

Last week I bought a laser level from Screwfix for a "nothing in the house is square" renovation I'm doing.

Not used it in anger yet but the self leveling mode and the bright vertical & horizontal LED beams projected across the room are exactly what I need. Under £30 in the sale - excellent value in my view

https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-green-self-levelling-cross-line-laser-level/805xt

They also have a red version for slightly more, I see no difference in the spec (apart from the colour of the beams), the green beams work well so why pay more...

Incredibly low price, cheaper than a budget tripod. None of those cheap pendulum based ones are any less accurate than an instrument of three, four times the price. The durability may differ but we are not supposed to drop kick them or perch them on ridiculously unstable mounts.

 

[chunkolini]

Cheers guys some useful advice here.
I'll take time to digest it and get something ordered in the Skrewfix one looks just the ticket as long as it has a magnetic mount.
That would mean I can have it fixed and forget about it. tripods are going to get kicked over in a combat situation. By Me at least.
Green beam sounds good to me
I'm always wary of cheap tools but something that will come out to play rarely is worth buy cheap buy twice. if it dies in combat its worth upgrading.
when I start on the floor I'll start a fresh thread full of blood and tears probably knowing this house.
What i came home too these Boys look like victorian coal miners
and they swept up a treat.

 

[Nomad]

I stick my neck out to spam for the home grown marque Huepar...

Huepar isn't a name I'd heard before but a quick look finds plenty of positive comments, good selection on Amazon from £30.

Huepar: Cross Line Laser

Horizontal and vertical cross line laser level

www.amazon.com

They seem to be one of the few makers who do a beam near floor level, could be handy for checking OP floor joists & levels?

One comment said any lasers with green beams eat batteries compared to red lasers, Something to check out or not a problem for light DIY use??

My work is inside, no idea how well green beams show up for outside work.

Edit @chunkolini - Confirmed. The L-shaped bracket that came with the green laser I got in Screwfix is magnetic, it also has a hole to hang it on a nail / screw

 

[Tom O]

It’s been years since I’ve seen lathe & plaster ( late 70’s ) it’s all drywall now although I have to wonder if there is any relationship to the black mold everyone has been talking about for years now.

 

[Anguz]

Dunno if it's just me, but I find the green lasers easier to see than the red

 

[RichardM]

Last week I bought a laser level from Screwfix for a "nothing in the house is square" renovation I'm doing.

Not used it in anger yet but the self leveling mode and the bright vertical & horizontal LED beams projected across the room are exactly what I need. Under £30 in the sale - excellent value in my view

https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-green-self-levelling-cross-line-laser-level/805xt

They also have a red version for slightly more, I see no difference in the spec (apart from the colour of the beams), the green beams work well so why pay more...

Thanks, that's my birthday pressie from wifey sorted.

 

[MysterG]

I have a couple of laser levels no name brands which cost me nowt.
Invariably I forget I have them until after I've finished a job

 

[dyno-tron]

Huepar isn't a name I'd heard before but a quick look finds plenty of positive comments, good selection on Amazon from £30.

Huepar: Cross Line Laser

Horizontal and vertical cross line laser level

www.amazon.com

They seem to be one of the few makers who do a beam near floor level, could be handy for checking OP floor joists & levels?

One comment said any lasers with green beams eat batteries compared to red lasers, Something to check out or not a problem for light DIY use??

My work is inside, no idea how well green beams show up for outside work.

Edit @chunkolini - Confirmed. The L-shaped bracket that came with the green laser I got in Screwfix is magnetic, it also has a hole to hang it on a nail / screw

I have a Hupar green line, takes 4xAA batteries, just turn it off when finished marking and it’s fine. If you need it on for lengthy periods then a rechargeable version would be better.

Also, for outdoor use I bought an lcd detector that beeps and shows where the beam is even when it is apparently invisible :-)

Conclusion? Should have bought one years ago!

 

[Ian X]

They seem to be one of the few makers who do a beam near floor level, could be handy for checking OP floor joists & levels?

One comment said any lasers with green beams eat batteries compared to red lasers, Something to check out or not a problem for light DIY use??

15mm beam from base is very handy indeed. It is 15mm on the top too, the prism guards are cast alloy and are shaped so that they slot onto a shoe to hang the instrument close to ceilings or other upper limits.
For DIY use you will not notice the increased battery consumption over red beam lasers. The pricey Huepar that I bought has a removeable lithium battery and a cartridge of same shape for 4 AA batteries plus a USB socket on the laser body to power using a power brick or whatever.
I would not pay too much for what you need it for, the cheaper pendulum based instruments are very accurate indeed.

 

[sg66]

Looks like it's going ok, laser levels are great tools, every time I start anything on a wall the first thing the wife says is back to brick is it, I can't see the point of not doing it f the plaster is crap.

 

[Nomad]

Not the best photo but the green beams show up ok indoors in daylight. My guess is they will be invisible for outside work.

ps. I bought the level to check a builders work - the main roof joist (yellow arrow) should fall on the green line if the roof is decent. It’s not even close

 

[500e]

Just bear in mind to level the floor away from a door way you don't want to be creating a step , and if I understand correctly " a bowl shape " you maybe lucky if its a sleeper floor and find any packers under the joists have either rotted or just dried up and fallen out , but without seeing anything first hand I could'nt offer anymore advise and good luck . A never ending source of joy old houses

Wife threatened to leave if I ever thought of moving to an old house, and she has put up with a lot over the years.
She was born and raised in a 1700th century thatched property with meany additions