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Appreciation post: A weird trick with a piece of string saved my butt on a tricky chimney rebuild
I was rebuilding a tapered chimney stack in a tight spot, and my plumb bob kept getting knocked by the wind. After three tries, I was getting nowhere. On a whim, I tied a heavy nut to a long piece of mason's line and hung it from a scaffold tube above the work, letting it swing free. Once it settled, I marked the line on the brick below and used that as my constant guide. It was way steadier than the bob in the breeze. Has anyone else found a simple fix for keeping things plumb in bad weather?
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piper_kim21d ago
Totally agree, that string trick is gold in a pinch. I was doing a garden wall once and the wind was just awful, my plumb bob was swinging side to side like a drunk. I grabbed a chunk of rebar and a roll of twine, tied it to some old fence post and let it dangle into a bucket of water I had nearby. The water dampened the swing so fast I couldn't believe it. Marked the wet spot on the string with a sharpie and checked every three courses. Ended up dead nuts straight, no issues.
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charles_mitchell2mo ago
That mason's line trick is just a worse plumb bob. The wind will still push the string, it just takes longer to see the error. I've seen guys waste a whole morning trusting a setup like that only to be off by half an inch. You need a solid reference, not a slow moving one.
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