How to Use a Line Level to Calculate Grade, Slope

Don't have a laser level, find grade or slope fast with a string and line level. Learn how to use string a line-level like a pro to see how much rise and run you have on your work area. I'm building a new house and finding elevations with a string level and tape measures and I also go to my desk to show how to find the angle of elevation, what tangent means, and how to use a calculator to find angle and grade as a percent. Find grade with a line level

[RDZ]

Good coverage of how to find 2% slope, but also noteworthy that when the bubble is right tight to one side of one of the inside lines (not centered between them), that is a 1% slope, which is useful for things like laying pavers

[lowanatpeace]

Yes! After about 2 hours of searching, I find a video that shows the rise/run. Thank you, sir.

[volbster]

Man if they just taught me it this way in school I might of learned something! Thank you well done!

[johnwhite]

it’s so much easier for me to understand this stuff when i can apply it to real world circumstances that apply to me. in high school all i saw were numbers on a piece of paper and a clock on the wall.

[filamphibian]

Great video. Your real world application makes this so much easier to learn the supporting mathematics. Thank you!

[hammurds]

Great lesson Colfax! When I worked sewer and water we would use a laser for grade but we would check our pipe with a 4’ level. If the bubble was just touching the line we would know it was close to a .40 grade. We would have to figure the percentage. We would shoot the high point and low point.(example) If the high point was 25.24 and low point was 29.66 in a 300’ run, we would use the calculation 29.66-25.24=4.42 4.42/300=.01473 X100=1.473 and that would be the number we put on our laser since it recognizes 100’ incriminates. It is gets to be a lot of other configurations when checking the staking since the survey crew works off of sea level elevation.

[maryhoffman]

Thank you for using it in the real world. I understand it so much better.

[michaelgilliam]

You sound just like Dale from king of the hill and it's awesome.

[manelson]

Wow! I have a hard time with math but you made it a bit easier. I am getting ready to buy my first property. And maybe last. But one side of the property is flat and the other is more rolling hills. Your equation will help. Thanks!

[anthonyramirez]

I don’t use this just but I sure will now that I know. Thank you very much. It’s simple and straight forward.

[ygdrasil]

Best explanation I've heard. Nice job

[pvlover]

In my teaching I wasn't told about the 1/4 line in the level . Thanx great video

[baharv]

You are a great teacher ! Keep up the good work!

[ericshoemake]

I really appreciate your video you saved me 900 bucks lol 😆 god bless you

[rvingmontanezway]

Great video brother this exactly how my land is ..
Thank you for sharing 👍

[sparkjax]

They sell 10 level bubbles in a little glass jar you can pick it up at the hardware store

[arnoldsanchez]

Couldn’t you just use a laser to get your grade?
Is this just for math teaching?
I enjoy your teaching very much. Wish I had you as my math teacher.

[LockerDog]

Where did the intro music come from? Did you make it yourself?

[taylorsnyder]

I didn't have enough string so I had to do it 2 different times. I placed 3 stakes in ground in a straight line 20ft apart from each other. Stake #1 to Stake #2 came out to 7%. Then I put the string at the bottom of the 2nd stake and connected it to the top of the 3rd stake. That was 21.6%. So now do I combine the two percentages for 28.6% and divide by 2? Or is the total slope 28.6%?

[LandersWorkshop]

Would the 9% grade be equivalent to degrees?