longtime puzzle
by mark996 on 04/22/05 at 18:22:44

I hate to admit that I've been a carpenter for 30 years or more and I've never found out those mystery marks on most all tape-measures.  It seems that there's an arrow every
19 3/16 + inches.     Can anyone please make me look foolish and solve this riddle.  Thank you  Mark996

Re: longtime puzzle
by Robert Fogt on 04/23/05 at 02:45:15

This is used when laying out engineered floor trusses that are 3-1/2" thick, there are six trusses or five spaces per 8' piece of subfloor.

The red diamond at 16" is for wall studs, the black diamond at 19 3/16 is for trusses.

I know Stanley uses diamonds, while other brands may use arrows or just different colored marks.

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