1

Not a very important question, but I'm wondering what the little diamonds are on my tape measure. It's a Stanley Fatmax from the UK © 2011. The first one is at ~488 mm (~19.2 inch), and then every ~488 mm after that along the tape, but they don't align with any regular measurement in can fathom.

enter image description here

Paul Uszak
  • 415
  • 4
  • 10

1 Answers1

4

It is an alternative framing spacing, used for studs, joists and rafters. It is an "identifier" for a stud layout much like the 16" center layout where you will get an even amount of spaces over an 8 ft. piece of material, or for that matter a 16 ft. piece of material as well.

Jack
  • 32,647
  • 1
  • 21
  • 56
  • 1
    In other words, instead of 6 studs per 8' span, you get 5 joists for the 8' span. – BMitch Mar 25 '22 at 12:49
  • 1
    Huh... I've heard of studs on 16" & 24" centers, but 19" centers? – FreeMan Mar 25 '22 at 14:06
  • 1
    @FreeMan — it varies from place to place, but those are usually drawn by architects that hate carpenters ;) – Aloysius Defenestrate Mar 26 '22 at 22:47
  • I have used those center marks myself. I was building an outbuilding using 2X6 oak salvaged from a barn, and needed to adjust my framing to work with the material I had. It worked out pretty good for my occasion. – Jack Mar 27 '22 at 18:45
  • So useless in the UK as we don't have matchstick houses? – Paul Uszak Mar 29 '22 at 01:08
  • @PaulUszak , don't count it out yet, I would think the roof is still done with framing. – Jack Mar 29 '22 at 02:54