Provided by Hugo Kristinsson – www.votehugo.co.nz
If your floor levels are out, it is likely that you have greater problems in your foundations that you need to know about and need to have fixed properly.
This is normally a major repair. In general (the building code allowance) if your floors are more than 23mm out they would need re-leveling. EQC states this to be 50mm.
This device gives you a cheap and easy way to get a quick indication of where you are at. If your floor levels are out by more than 23mm and you are being offered jack and pack type solutions or a cash payout you should get additional professional advice.
What you need:
- Two large empty bottles like water containers.
- A hose, available at Bunnings $10
- Two grommets suitable with for the hose, available at any Auto shop. $2
- Two Rulers, available at paper plus $0.65
- A drill suitable width for the grommet.
Empty and clean the bottles.
Half fill with water and freeze
Drill holes for the grommets
Melt and drain the Ice.
Install the grommets
Plug in the hose, use tape if not perfectly sealed.
Half fill the bottles with water and some food colouring for clarity. Attach both rulers so they are identically placed according to water level. Place bottles on a different level and time how long they take to come up to level. Make sure lids are not sealed as air needs to get in for the water to level. The wider the hose the quicker they will level.
Draw and room plan of your house, place one bottle at the entrance and then the other in various places throughout the house recording the + – level on your plan.
HI guys, the 2 bottles interconnected by tube idea for use as a level is no con- in fact it is one of the most if not the most acurate ways of finding level & certainly more acurate than a zip laser, zips are typically 3% out. I actually used a slightly more sophisticated version of this method 45 years ago when my grandfather ( a masterbuilder, carpenter & cabinetmaker built his own house) he told me it was more acurate over a longer distance than a level.
Of course you will have a problem proving it to Fletchers builders but then they would probably have never seen one let alone used one.