A senior framer told me my stud layout was off, took his advice and it changed my speed

Last week on a deck rebuild in Portland, a guy who's been framing for 25 years watched me set up my layout and said 'you're measuring twice and cutting once but you're marking like a rookie.' He showed me to mark all the stud locations with one continuous line then X the waste side instead of drawing individual boxes. I tried it on the next wall and honestly cut my marking time by maybe 30 percent. Also stopped me from double-checking every mark since the X makes it obvious at a glance. Has anyone else had a senior hand off a small tip that completely reworked their process, even after years in the trade?

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laura48629d ago

...and that reminds me, the same kind of thing happened to me with chalk lines on a roof sheathing job. This old timer, he just snapped one line across the whole gable end and then used a carpenters pencil to put a little tick mark at every rafter bay. I was over there drawing little squares around each one, like I was making a treasure map. He looked over and goes, 'you trying to decorate it or build it?' It sounds stupid simple but that one continuous line with ticks saved me a ton of crouching and re-measuring, especially when the sun was hitting the deck. My knees thanked him, that's for sure.