Hello everyone, hope everyone is well. I am having a dilema with my benchwork that i just cant figure out. As some of you know my layout is an around the wall shelf style layout. The room measures 12’x20’ and I am modeling N scale if that really matters. My first 2’x18’ shelf is level in all aspects, front to back and lengthways. The 12’x2’ new shelf i just built is off a mile when i bump it up to the first level shelf. I have measured and re measured. I have used both 2’ and 4’ levels but makes no difference. No matter what i do the new 2’x12’ shelf is off when attached to the original shelf that i know for sure is level. What am i doing wrong lol? I have measured from the floor up 50" on all studs and added a small block of wood for the shelf to rest on to ensure it was level. I am missing something here but cant figure it out…Any suggestions? I have attached a picture showing what i am doing, the red section is the new shelf that will not level. Thanks everyone!
You don’t say how it is off, but I agree there is a snake in every hole.
The floor might not be level, are the brackets to support the shelf different, is the stucture of the shelf different? 50" should be 50" but anything is prone to error, just ask the guy in Iran who launched. You can find a cheapo laser for $20 at Lowes and measure from the top down.
I’ve been told that the difference between a average carpenter and a good carpenter is a good one can cover up his mistakes. When we moved into our home it was the show home for the division. Great house! A couple of years later I was adding to the patio and everything I measured was wrong.
I finally measured the original corners and one was off 5¼” in 12’. The carpenter that built the patio was a good carpenter, he hid his errors so good it took me two days to find it.
Since then I have found a several more very good covered up mistakes.
The floor is off level. Measure from the ceiling down to your bench work, all the way around. Put marks on the wall, than measure up to the marks you made, from the floor, to see what adjustments you need to make to the legs.
OR, rent a laser level, as Mr B. suggest.
This is nothing devastating, just need an adjustment in the legs of your benchwork.
You could also use wood shims to shim the sections so they match.
Seeing as the first section is level in all directions, I would use the edge of the level section that you are butting up to as the new zero point. adjust the new section to the edge of the good section and level the new section to the good section, using the level, regardless of the distance from the floor. This will require some adjustment of the legs on the new section. Leg length is not important. level to the first section is.
If you don’t have money for a laser level, a bucket of water and a long (clear) hose makes a great way to mark an exactly level line around the room you can measure from. Instead of me explaining how to make/use one, Google it (you’ll thank me because I’m not great at explaining things.lol).
Have you tried using adjustable foot screws mounted to the bottom of your vertical supports? I manage a restaurant and all of our tables have them. When the tables get moved around, they might not be level in one spot even though they were level in another. You just twist the screws one way or another and it will raise and lower the legs incrementally according to your needs. I have three sectional layouts that have been moved from a couple different houses and rooms and I applied this thinking to my layout. It has proved to be very helpful and makes adjusting the heights very easy with just a little time, patience and a good level. It may not work for your situation, but it has helped me relieve many headaches and having to remove, re measure, re cut and re build. Good luck.
As others have suggested, the problem is likely that your floor is not level. Basement floors are not level by design. They are built with a slight slope so that water will drain in the unfortunate event of leakage.
You need to reference your benchwork height from the wall and the easiest way to do that is rent or buy a laser level. Mark a level line at the desired height of the benchwork and then build the legs to meet that line.
NEVER measure from the floor or ceiling. In my experience, nothing is ever level.
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The only solution is to RENT a 360 degree laser level for one day. Put it in the center of the room, set it for your desired height, and draw a level line all the way around the walls.
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This will give you a very good chance at having a level layout.
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I am a big proponent of renting tools that will only be used ocassionally. You can rent a perfect professional laser for one day for about the same price as buying a cheap garbage model. This will help stop you from pulling your hair out.
Your right. I think most understand that if your attaching layout benchwork to the wall, you need to establish a level base line around the room.
For the modular guys that build in sections, like 2’ x 8’ individual “tables” put together, they deal with any differences as they go.
Mine is attached, permanently, to the wall, as the bench works original purpose was to provide a storage system for plastic totes. The layout was an afterthought.
The OP’s situation is not a big deal, easy to solve.
Laser levels aren’t even all that expensive any more. Maybe for a super duper fancy one - but the simple one I got for Christmas seems to work just fine. It probably isn’t rigged enough to toss in a toolbox and use on a job site every day, but I kind of only need it twice - once for the lower deck zero line, and once for the upper deck zero line.
Floors, ceilings, walls - hardly any of it is EVER level, even with quality construction. And especially a basement floor, there will always be a slope to any floor drains. If the existing piece shows level in all directions, attach the new section to it, and at the far end use whatever length legs are needed to bring it up level. Odds are very good this will not be the same length as the legs on the existing part.
This is the part that may be hard to get your head around - while it seems like common sense that if you build a table with 4 legs, each precisely the same length, it should be level - that’s ONLY true if you set it on a perfectly level surface. The art portion of carpentry is adjusting things level as needed, darned the actual measurements. The bubble level doesn’t lie (unless you broke it). If the level says it’s level, but using a tape shows one end is 35" off the floor and the other end is 37" off the floor - trust the level.
The skill and techniques involved in hanging kitchen cabinets, base and uppers, is a good example of this. If you start the base cabinets on the low end of an “out of level” kitchen, good luck.
ANd no,m they did not “build them better” back in the day - I remember helping my neighbor convert half his garage into an office. These house were built int he early 50’s. This was the early 80’s, so having a chair rail was all the rage. Well, nailed to one corner, it stuck out a couple of feet at the other end, because the wall was so curved. Luckily it’s just a thin moulding so it was easily just pressed into place - but getting the end to come out and match up with the piece going across the next wall was fun, because having that curve meant needing a longer piece than just measuring wall to wall.
Start at your 2x18. Use that as 0. Measure level off that setting your height blocks off that. The ones you have attached to the wall. Once you have them adjusted to that you should be level for the 2x12 section
When using a 2’ or 4’ or 8’ level always take a reading, then turn the level end for end. It is very easy to knock the bubble housing out of position causing false readings, and very hard to put it back.
