Just found out my tape measure has been off by 1/8 inch for years

I was measuring out some cabinet pulls in Austin last week and kept getting gaps that didn't line up. So I checked my old Stanley tape against a new one I borrowed from a buddy and sure enough, it was reading short. I had probably used that thing on a dozen kitchen jobs over the last 6 years. Has anyone else had a tape gradually drift on them without noticing?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_burns2d ago

Man, I gotta push back on that. An eighth inch is a BIG deal if you're doing cabinet work or anything with reveals and spacing. Over 6 years that tape could have cost you a TON of jobs where things looked just slightly off and the customer couldn't put their finger on why. It adds up, especially in the finish trades.

kelly3852d ago

Ask him to give you a specific example of one of those jobs where that eighth inch actually showed up in a way the customer could point to. Was it with cabinet reveals that were supposed to line up, or maybe something with a piece of trim that left a gap you couldn't explain? I'm curious if he's talking about a situation where the tape was the one thing causing the problem, or if it was more of a cumulative issue with a few different tolerances adding up.

spencer_coleman2d ago

Huh, that's a tough one but I mean, an eighth of an inch isn't really that big of a difference for most stuff, idk. Like for cabinet pulls you might notice it, but for framing lumber or drywall I bet nobody would ever catch it. Maybe it's just me but I've had old tapes that were off a little and honestly it never caused a big problem on the jobs where I used them. A lot of guys overthink this kind of thing when really it's just a few bucks for a new tape.