Most homeowners don't know this, how to use a tape measure like a pro.

while tape measures may seem simple there is a lot to know about them that make them far more useful features as some people don't know about and once you know will make you far more efficient with your tape measure we'll cover the basics from Reading different styles usage and we'll go over the more complex including guide marks architectural scale hidden features and much much more let's go over reading a tape measure when you first pull out your tape you'll usually have some markings including the brand Roman numerals and other markings the Roman numerals are the Declaration of conformity in other words accuracy one being the most accurate two the second most accurate and three the least unmarked tapes do not mean they are inaccurate it just means they're untested the M with a square indicates the year of manufacturer for example M23 means the tape was manufactured in 2023 this is important to know which standards or parameters the tape was made with based on that year each year there are changes and improvements to these standards the C Mark indicates that the tape measure conforms to All European Union regulations that apply to it in the case of a tape measure that means the European measuring instruments directive the temperature marking is simply the temperature at which the accuracy of the tape measure was tested this is taken into account as temperature can contract and and expand metal but this isn't really something we need to be concerned with now reading inches is simple you have 1 in 5 in 20 in 46 in and so on but reading fractions of an inch isn't as simple in between an inch we have 15 marks each Mark indicating a 1/16th of an inch but let's ignore that for a moment and just look at the longest Mark which is in the center this is exactly half which means 1/2 in then next longest Mark are placed at a/4 of an inch so four of these spaces fit inside 1 in the next longest Mark indicates 1/8 of an inch meaning that eight of these intervals fit in 1 in I think we get the gist of it finally we have the smallest Mark which are at 1116 of an inch 16 of these intervals fit within 1 in there are also tapes that have the fractions written on them which can make it a little bit easier to read the next common mark on a tape is foot marks every foot you'll typically have an arrow or color Mark that marks the foot that be on 1 3 5T and so on we'll also often encounter foot inch marks for example on this tape measure we have 46 47 and so on until 411 this number indicates that the next inch Mark is XT by n in for example the 48 indicates that 56 in is 48 in this other tape for example also indicates foot in right above the inch Mark for example 31 in is 2T 7 in outside of the USA you'll also have centimeter marks this is a much simpler system of just centimet each centimeter made up of 10 mm and 1 M made up of 100 cm though meters are not usually marked most tape measures will have a mark at 16 in and subsequently every 16 in after that this will either be marked with a color or Square or Diamond this is important and very useful when framing walls known as 16 on Center which is the most common studs are typically placed 16 in apart on Center and this Mark makes it easy to Mark the locations of studs this Mark is found including at 4 ft which will be different from the marks on other foot marks indicating it's a 16 on Center Mark and in this case the indication is with a diamond in the arrow of the 4 foot Mark we also have a 19.2 in Mark which is also marked every subsequent 19.2 Ines this infractions would be an uneven 3.56 of an inch which is why the 19.2 Mark sits forward of 3/16 in which is something to take into consideration if you're shooting for ultimate accuracy now this Mark is also used in building and is sometimes used for framing though is more common for floor joists and roof rafters other common spacings are 12 in and 24 in though these AR an even 1 and 2T respectively not requiring any additional marking the blade tip on a tape measure is designed with many things in mind and any good tape measure will have play in it now this means that the blade is loose on the ribits and as janky as this may seem this makes your tape measure more accurate this play accounts for the thickness of the blade so when measuring by pulling the inside of the blade inward is the accurate measurement however if you're measuring by pushing against something the blade moves in making the outside inward the accurate measurement the blade will typically have a rectangular hole in it this one is simple it's just designed to hook on to Nails the blade is also intended to be strong enough to mark wood if you forget your pencil you can just push the blade into the material making a mark some tape measures even have a serrated edge many tape measures now come with magnets at the end this can come in handy especially when working with metal though in my experience it could also get in the way magnetizing to things you didn't intend to some blades will extend upwards and are able to hook on the top side as well which is a welcome feature on any tape measure measuring inner Corners can be tricky and many people just bend the tape measure and push it into the corner and try to estimate what that length is but you can't really see the exact distance to the corner for example try to guess the distance here now remember your answer and we'll come back to this in a second there's a better more accurate way to measure inner Corners most tape measures will have a mark on the side where the belt Hook is this will indicate in inches and or millimeters the length of the body of the tape measure along the bottom Edge this allows you to measure in between spaces more accurately for example here we set our tape measure flush and bump it to the other end we want to measure we read the measurement in this case 20 in and 76 16 then we add the amount on the back of the tape measure in this case 2 in for a total of 22 in and 7/16 of an inch now this should be a more accurate measurement and let me know is that what you estimated with the previous method if we cut a piece of wood we can see that it perfectly fits at 22 and 716 in some tape measures will have an architectural scale these are simply just scaled down measurements to find the equivalent life size value so in this case we have a 120 scale and a 50 scale this is usually used for architectural plans though we have another example most people could probably relate to a little better Hot Wheels these little cars are scaled down to 164 meaning that if we multiply any of the dimensions of the car by 64 we should get a life-size value of what it would be now we don't have a 164 scale we have a 150 scale this excavator for example is a 150 scale toy which we have on our tape measure we can use this for example to measure the cabin size and see what it would approximately be in life sizee scale in this case we have 1.5 M by 1.7 m which seems about correct now tape measures are tightly and precisely wound so do not ever disassemble a tape measure as chances are it will never go back together so if you're like me and you like to take absolutely everything apart just don't take apart your tape measure as tempting as it might be you also want to make sure that your tape measures at least agree with each other in other words if you have a bunch of tape measures do they all measure the same measurements you'd be surprised how often you get a bent or stuck blade or other factors that are changing your measurement by fractions of an inch and a fraction of an inch is enough to throw everything off and cause a lot of headaches so just make sure your tapes are reading correctly we've put countless hours into making the best content possible and keeping it free for everyone that being said your support is a crucial part in keeping us going we've put some serious time into designing a new flask and mugs ensuring the quality product and 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Channel: James Gatlin

Views: 72,900

Keywords: How to use, tools, how to repair, how to use a tape measure, tape measure, what is a tape measure for, how to use tools, how to build

Id: -t3s9NyLAp0

Length: 8min 59sec (539 seconds)

Published: Wed May 22 2024