How to make a lot level

Use a garden hose or tow or three coupled together, then put a couple foot of clear poly tubing on both ends. Suspend the ends a couple foot up, fill it with enough water to level off a few inches into the clear tube. What you have now is a level line and a pretty in-expensive device. I have used it many times for fences and such, works great!!

Roger in Abilene.

A floodlight, on a small pole can be handy in revealing low-spots. Best results at night. Laser level can also be useful for fine-tuning.

Don, I like to use a box blade and a drag. The drag can be a simple "I" beam a few feet wider than the box blade. As you drive around in circles and figure 8's, set the box blade to just cut off the tops of any mounds. Attach the "I" beam to the back of the box blade with 2 pieces of chain so the it rides with two edges down. This will smooth out any gouges made by the box blade. As you notice a high or low spot, drive across the high spot towards the low. This should scrap some dirt from the mound and drop it into the low spot. May have to play with the height of the box blade at this point. This should get you pretty flat. For level, the cheapest thing would be a water level. Two, one foot pieces of clear tubing attached to the ends of a garden hose. Inconvenient, but accurate Or you could do what the Egyptians did, dig a shallow ditch around and across your lot. Then fill it with water.

A tractor and a box blade moves the dirt.

A water level is probably the cheapest way to go for the leveling instrument. Just make sure you get all of the bubbles out before you use it. Gary Brady Austin, TX

Go down to Home Depot and get yourself a $1.98 string level. Stretch string tight across your pad. Hang level on string per instructions and adjust string accordingly.

There is nothing more accurate than a length of clear plastic tube filled with water which will indicate a true level to basically infinite accuracy.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

Stick some ink in the water, & screw a plastic ruler to each of the posts the ends of the tube are fixed to - even works round corners!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- snipped-for-privacy@boltblue.com John Lloyd - Cymru/Wales

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Get yourself an electronic water level made by Zircon if you can afford it. It is less than $30, and puts out a tone when you reach the level point, even around blind corners, as long as you can hear it. This is one of the handiest tools I own, and it's a one man usage device. No more begging for help.

RJ

You can rent a laser level from Home Depot for a reasonable sum. I always found water levels to be a pain in the ass.

Two words ......... water level .................

Easy

Cheap

VERY accurate, even at long distances.

Steve

On 19 Apr 2004 10:59:08 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Don) vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!: remove ns from my header address to reply via email

A warning with all water levels. You must not have any air bubbles in the line. It can stuff everything up. The same goes for any rises and falls in the line, as these will probably create air bubbles.

Such is my experience. I had wrong readings because of air bubbles.

I _believe that if the air bubble occurs _and the water levels are already exactly equal, and you don't alter anything_ then you are OK. Any change with an air bubble and you will get wrong readings.

IME.

As far as the actual levelling goes, depends what you have. I have done them with shovels and string lines, working in smaller squares to keep the scale down to size. I also use a scrape stick once I am close to get larger areas of flat.

But I would use a compactor very thorougly, then re-level, then recompact, expecially if you are going to cement/brick/pave afterward. Also remember that string lines stretch and sag. They need to be _tight_..did I say _tight_? The better the job, the less cement you need.

My FIL was a commercial grano worker, and used shovels, but had a dumpy level and used to place a perimeter of oregon planks , with spikes in the ground every 2 metres' square or so, and work around those. The spikes were very accurate (woe betide any poor bastard that kicked one! DAMHIKT) and stuck up the expected depth of the cement, say 100mm. When they laid the cement, they would simply work to the top of the grid of spikes.

The box grader is a good idea, but takes some skill to get really nice. I would still be finishing with a shovel.

And compact compact compact. This will increase your workload, but you will not regret it.

My dream is to have a layout that allows a really heavy bar or some such to be dragged across the top of levelled rails either side, simply levelling, then comnpacting and filling any missed bits, then again, and again, maybe working in strips. I have about 4 big pads to do at least, where I am, so it may be worth my while.

**************************************************** I went on a guided tour not long ago.The guide got us lost. He was a non-compass mentor.........sorry ........no I'm not.

"Old Nick" wrote: (clip)I _believe that if the air bubble occurs _and the water levels are already exactly equal, and you don't alter anything_ then you are OK. Any change with an air bubble and you will get wrong readings. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The water hose is essentially a U-tube, in which the water levels are PRESUMED to be at the same level in both legs. Obviously, if there is air on one side, the weight of water required to match the other leg will stand higher in that leg, introducing an error. The best way to make sure this doesn't happen is to bring both legs together and see that the levels match. To be doubly sure, raise the ends of the hose, so any air rises and escapes. Once this is done, there is no way for air to get in, and the system should be accurate, no matter how you drag the hose, or whether it goes over bumps or low spots.

Works great! with mobile homes and similar also.

Gunner

"A vote for Kerry is a de facto vote for bin Laden." Strider

Agreed except maybe two of them. I'd run at least two strings perpendicular to each other ie- north/south and east/west such that they intersect in the middle of the pad site -or- perhaps to get more accurate run 6 strings such that you could run say 2 north/south along the edges of the pad site and one in the middle and then do the same thing in the east/west direction.

I've been checking this thread watching for another warning in addition to the bubble problem. ALL parts of the water level must be at the same temperature. Half in shade and half in sun can also throw your marks off. At the cheap price of lazer levels today, I would spring for one if I didn't already have one for this project. A lot less dick around. One set-up and a marked stage pole is all it takes. I use water levels myself expecially when going around corners but...

Harry K

Please explain why.

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 06:35:02 GMT, "Leo Lichtman" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!: remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Point taken. I was being cautious. It's hard to get sure that there is no air in 15 metres of hose, though, by raising the ends up till there are no folds

Clear tubing is the safest. I saw a couple of mentions of garden hose.

**************************************************** I went on a guided tour not long ago.The guide got us lost. He was a non-compass mentor.........sorry ........no I'm not.