Whether you hang a family photo on the wall or build a high-rise building, you will inevitably have to face the problem of matching the horizon and vertical level when doing the work. And if in the first case a skewed frame will only cause smiles of others, then in the second case an incorrect eye can have fatal consequences.
To accurately determine the geometry of the planes, specialized tools are used - this is a plumb line and a building level. Their work is based on the use of a parameter that is constant in direction anywhere on the earth's surface - gravity.
Plumb line - simplicity that gives birth to harmony
One of the first measuring devices of this principle used by mankind is a plumb line. This is the simplest and still used device is a rope with a weighting agent at the end. In the suspended state, the weight pulls the thread fixing it, forming an ideal vertical guide. Over the millennia of use, only the shape of the cargo has changed - from a piecestone to a spear-shaped tip. And if you attach a laser pointer-keychain to the rope, you will get the simplest laser plummet, which perfectly copes with the task of transferring markings from the floor to the ceiling (for example, when installing interior partitions).
The disadvantages of this method include a rather large measurement error associated with a too sharp viewing angle, and the difficulty of fixing the load, especially in windy weather.
Bubble type level
Another long-standing and widely used device for checking the slope of a surface in different planes is a bubble-type building level. It is a segment of a perfectly even, most often aluminum profile with a window in the middle. It contains a capsule filled with a frost-resistant liquid, on which a small air bubble slides. Placing it between the eye marks, they achieve a perfect match to the surface of the horizon line.
At the edges of the rail there are additional windows for measuring inclined and vertical planes, which allows you to use a bubble level instead of a classic plumb line. This is a quick and convenient way to mark the surface, especially in a space with limited height.
Rack levels can be of various lengths, equipped with magnetic holders, have an electronic deviation accounting system, but the air bubble in the liquid inside the measuring device will remain the standard for them.
Hydraulic level
A structurally different principle for determining the horizon line has a hydraulic level, which is based on the law of communicating vessels. It is a transparent flexible hose of arbitrary length with flasks at the ends.
Filling it with water (here it is important that there are no air bubbles along the entire length of the tube), the water is balanced according to the marks located on the surface of the flasks. Markup, as a rule, is carried out from one binding. This is perhaps the only way that allows you to transfer the horizontal plane even to adjacent rooms in the absence of direct visibility between the start and end points of the line to be marked.
The use of a laser in the construction of planes
Today, the most progressive and accurate way to measure the inclination of planes to the horizon are levels with laser markings (levels). As a rule, they combine plumb, level and measuring device in one device.
Despite the rather high cost, such meters are widely used among professionals for their small error (1 mm per 1 m), large radius of the working space (15-20 m), tremendous time savings for marking (up to 60%), simplicity and unpretentiousness in work. Depending on the tasks to be solved, the levels can be:
- Point - used to move the extreme points of the size horizontally and vertically, they work like a plumb line. These are the simplest of laserlevels.
- Linear - allow you to beat off a line at an arbitrary angle along the entire surface and immediately get to work.
- Rotary - installed on a special stand (tripod) and cover the entire perimeter of the room with rays.
Nevertheless, for all the futuristic nature of this technology, before starting work, modern Jedi builders expose laser pointers using the classic cone with an air bubble built into them.
Checking the level with a smartphone
Another, even more modern than the use of lasers, a way to check the level can be in your smartphone.
There are a lot of mobile apps that allow users to not build the Burj Khalifa (the world's largest skyscraper) with their help, but at least align the wall clock.
