Running a mini-farm, or even just owning a few farm animals will mean needing shelter and housing. Often times, this will mean you will need to build things. For example, a stall, a chicken brooder, a door for a run. One of the things that we struggled with at first (having no building experience) was how to make sure the base of everything was square and level.
If you do not square and level your building, you will end up with walls not lining up, roofs not fitting correctly, doors and windows not opening right....it really can cause serious issues. For a first time builder, squaring and leveling can seem overwhelming, but both are really easy to do.
How to Square and Level A Building
Here are some quick tips to get your structure in tip top condition.
How to Square a Buildings Base
Making sure a base (or wall or door) is squared is really simple. Once you have your pieces cut (or put together), you want to ensure that the diagonal corner measurements are equal. To do this, all you need to do is measure diagonally from one corner to the other and then measure diagonally from the other corners. When the measurements are equal, then your base is square.
If you are working with a metal base screwed together (so there is some movement in the sides), you can put the base together, measure, and then simply pull the corners as needed to get the measurements to be equal. If you are nailing wood pieces together (so there will be no movement), you will need to lay the pieces out first, make the measurements and then you can adjust (or cut) as necessary to ensure that the measurements are equal.
If you found this helpful check out, The Fruitful Homesteader: A Goal Setting and Project Planning System so that you can get your homestead working for you.
How to Level a Buildings Base
Leveling a base is perhaps even more simple that squaring. You can use a small speed square with a level in it, or you can use a carpenters level.
Once you have you base squared, you will put the level in the middle of one of the sides. If the bubble does not fall in the middle of the lines, you will need to raise or lower the far sides/corners of the structure. One easy way to do this for a base is to use small landscaping stones. Simply add and remove them until the bubble on the level falls in the middle of the lines. You will need to check this on each of the four sides of the structure.
