Pro Handyman Blog

Measurements are important. As a handyman, we measure things every day and they have to be accurate. You can buy digital measurement devices, but for old school tape measures, you have to follow a few simple rules to get accuracy.

Tape measures come in a variety of lengths. You can place the tongue of the tape measure over the edge of the surface you are measuring and stretch it out to get the distance. And then it happens. Either intentionally or not, the tongue lifts off of the surface and the spring tension inside the tape measure draws the tape back into the housing at about 900 miles per hour. This is when the tongue slams against the housing. Repetitive slamming can cause the tongue to become loose and add distance to your measurements. The tongue is usually riveted onto the end of the tape and it doesn’t take much for it to become loose. Kids love to play with these and let the tongue of the tape measure slam into the housing.

So, when you are measuring for accuracy, use the same tape measure. In this way, the measurements will be consistent…even if they are not exact, they will be consistent. You would not have the right distances if you used two separate tape measures on the same project as they would take different measurements of the same surface. If you are measuring a small distance and the tongue is loose, instead of using the tongue as the starting point, slide over and use the 1” mark as the starting point using your fingers to hold it in the starting position.