A Thin Blue Line
Our house is being erected almost entirely by hand. Besides the occasional use of a concrete mixer, the main tools of the trade are a shovel, bucket and a trowel.
Apart from these more obvious tools, one arguably more important item goes largely unnoticed. It is string, or in the case of our contractor, nylon fishing line. On our build site it’s everywhere and is used for all sorts of things.
It started a few months back when it was laid out to mark the foundation for the house. String was pulled in all directions and used to mark lines, from which items like door and window openings were measured.
When constructing stone walls, it’s string that ensures they’re straight. As shown below for the footing of the pool, two lines of string are stretched out a foot apart. Boulders are then mortared into place between the lines so they align with the string on both sides.
String also makes an appearance as a dangling plumb line - a guide to keep the vertical walls perpendicular to the ground.
Finally, as our bedroom ceilings expand overhead, it’s string to the rescue yet again. Pulled tight into a criss-cross pattern at the right height, concrete is slapped on the ceiling and troweled flat, up to, but not quite touching the web-like lines of string.
