Architecture - foundation level meter or tool?

I saw a foundation use a digital meter to check the level of the house. The way it worked was they placed the unit in the middle of the house or at the highest point and then it has a cable and a pole that you walk around and check at different places in the house and it would tell you a digital read out of the difference between the high points and low points...more or less telling you where the foundation was sinming or leaning to etc. and how much it was off.


Does anyone know the specific name of this instrument or tool and where I can purchase one?

a laser level ? ? ?,,, everyone's using them,,, but for ' sinming or leaning to ' i dunno,,, hell, i don't even know what ' sinming ' means, either,,, nor can i find it on google.

No what I saw wasnt a laser level. it was a box shaped thing (the main unit) with a hollow looking cord made of plastic almost looking like an extension cord that went to a pole. The pole would be placed on the floor of the house in several locations and at each location would provide a digital read out on the display at the top of the pole. The read out would tell you if your house was plus or minus and give you the actual number of the difference i.e -9.6"


And sorry about the sinming or leaning statement ...I had a few typos and just realized it.....I meant sinking or leaning

Wonder if what you describe works off the GPS system? The main and pole unit could be two GPS receivers with the electronics to yield a height difference. Such a system would work around corners and through walls where a laser based system wouldn't. Never heard of such a tool, just a guess of mine.

Is there such a thing as a digital water level?? I don't know, just doesn't ring a bell to me.

I hate to post in an old topic, but it's only by a few months.

I have seen the tool you are talking about. I had a couple of houses inspected in the past year, and the inspectors used the device both times. I'm sorry that I can't tell you a name, but you could probably call a home inspector or slab repair company and ask them. I don't really know how it works, either, but its certainly not lasers and GPS wouldn't be accurate enough (only good to within a few feet at best). I would guess it uses very sensitive altimeters.

I doubt that it is cheap enough for the average consumer. If you just want to check your slab, you may be better off having it checked by a pro. You may want to have a home inspector do it so that you get an impartial check.

If it is cheap enough for a DIYer, it probably would not have the accuracy to do a good job. You easily find a professional with a good instrument that he is trained to use.

If something is + or - an 1/8th, you can expect a 1/4" error if you do everything right. There are cheaper ways to get that accuracy.

Probably something like this...no not cheap.

http://edo1.vci.net/waterlevel/

actually that is the type of tool and maybe less expensive than what I was looking at. The professional foundation company that came to my house used a Tecnidea Zip Level Pro 2000 to check my foundation for sinking.

http://www.ziplevel.com/

Here is a link to the site but you maybe better off with the one listed in the other persons link as it appear to be the same type of tool and is far less expensive however I have no idea how well it works.