How to Square a Corner Using the 3-4-5 Method

If you are building your own paving stone patio, the second most important thing after getting a good base is making sure it's square. In this video, we'll show you how to set up your string lines using the Pythagorean theorem to help you get started from a square corner to ensure the success of your project.

Tools and equipment used:

[Moondoggy]

First it was one guy can do it, then two and now three. Thanks for making it simple to understand.

[Mackyanguson]

Great video simple and to the point 👍 👌

[francispare]

All you tutorials are really well made. Don’t understand why you don’t have more subscribers. They sure are helping me planning my new paving project in my backyard

[bitheroes]

Question: How do we line this up with the other three corners?

[myopicthunder]

Nice one, this would work using 300 400 and 500 mm too right

[hafiz]

So I've got a base right-angle triangle done. How do I extend the lines and ensure it remains straight/proportional? For example, I want to stretch out 3 and 4 to say 10 metres. Do I have to keep measuring the hypotenuse to know that it remains proportional?

[wheres_bears]

What if you what the intersection to be at a specific measurement?

[designerd]

2:38 "You Can Do This By Yourself" - How do you hold a measuring tape to the string on one side 5 or 10 feet away while also holding the end of the tape? I ended up using knots but I want to see how it should be done because it took FOREVER alone. Also what about level? Maybe I'm just a perfectionist but I was also using a level line on the string and the project just became iterative hell alone.

[TH]

Thanks...at 1:24 how do you know where to put that stake? How far away from other stake??

[tiaturnbullchampionscoachi]

Did anybody else see Bigfoot running in the background? ;)

[oot]

good video would have been better to remove the background music

[jasonlanggin]

Do you do this in all four corners ? Around the whole square ?

[zeppelin]

What if the dimensions are smaller than 3, 4, 5? How would you square a smaller corner?

[roxannesmith]

00.40 min. Setting a straight line, set stake #1, walk a ways and set stake #2, no measuring.
Is that where you start measuring your structure or base, from stake to stake?

[sosclay]

I thought you were going to show how to use the same principle on the smaller triangles on the exterior.

[ReneKatana]

You can’t see where you’re putting the second stake…along the same initial line? Perpendicular to line? Behind the second stake? You show where you put second stake after you’ve already wrapped line into a triangle, but which stake is straight line?