The Science of Length Measurement

Lidl Parkside brand measuring tape. © Eugene Brennan

An excuse to add a post about one of my favourite things, the centre isle of Lidl. I saw these 50 m tapes yesterday. I already have two, bought in other places and had to resist the urge to triple up. These things are useful for measurements in the garden or laying out foundations for sheds. When I was building the garden shed, I used two of these to square the foundations and concrete base (made the timber formwork for the base, placed it into position and then adjusted it by trial and error until the diagonals were the same length). Four pieces of rebar hammered into the ground then marked the four corners and I tied the 4 x 2 formwork to these.

Stud wall frame for my garden shed. © Eugene Brennan

Formwork for the concrete base was adjusted so the diagonals were of equal length. © Eugene Brennan

I built the shed on a concrete slab. © Eugene Brennan