A while back I had to install interior doors in the basement of a custom home. My boss instructed  me to make sure all the jamb heads were the same height so that all the trim would eventually line up. He left me a builders level (similar to a transit but without the up-and-down feature) to check my readings. Then he disappeared.

I got the level set up quickly, then pondered my next move. I wanted a common level line on each side of all the door openings. But while peering through the eyepiece of the instrument, the problem of marking the level lines while standing 20 ft. from the target occurred to me. What to do? Run upstairs and drag somebody away from their work? Get the boss? There had to be a better way.

I spotted a discarded newspaper in the corner of the basement, and suddenly a light went off. I tore strips of newsprint about 3 in. wide and 1 ft. long and stapled one on each side of the door openings in the vicinity of the jamb heads.

I walked back to the instrument, squinted through the eyepiece and focused on a door jamb. I could easily read whatever word was bisected (or underlined) by the level line. I read both sides of a doorway to save time, then walked over and made my pencil marks by the appropriate words. I made a quick check to ensure my accuracy, then moved on to the next doorway. I was able to do several doorways in just a couple of minutes by myself.

I’ve since repeated this procedure at a couple of other job sites, and I always make sure to leave the newsprint stapled up as long as possible. It drives other tradesmen nuts while they try to figure out why it’s there.

Lloyd Dorsey, Wilson, WY