The Essential Tool Savvy DIYers Shouldn't Overlook For Home Improvement Projects

What do hanging bathroom tiles, determining the perfect height for your floating shelves, and installing kitchen cabinet hardware have in common? The answer is simple: they are all DIY projects that require using a level. Most of us have a standard box level lying around, but this household staple is often a hassle to use — it's not always the easiest to hold it in place while you're wrangling a picture frame or drilling holes. A box level can also be a bit small for larger projects, like hanging cabinets or putting up drywall. Fortunately, there's a much easier way to ensure that everything in your next DIY project is straight and, well, on the level.

A laser level projects a line onto your wall, ceiling, or cabinet surface that you can use in a similar fashion to a box level. What makes the laser level so essential is that it frees up your hands and allows you to cover significantly more space than the handheld version of the tool. Instagram user thelovelydrawer has a great video that illustrates just a few of the situations in which a laser level can come in handy. As you can see in the clip, the tool also lets you simultaneously determine if something is both vertically level and horizontally straight.

There are several kinds of laser levels, and each type has different uses. The most common is the line laser level, so named because it simultaneously projects a vertical and horizontal line on your wall. Spot levels, meanwhile, are more useful for transferring specific points between surfaces, and rotary levels generally have more commercial applications. A line level like the durable Bosch Self-Leveling Cross-Line Laser is typically the most useful for DIY enthusiasts. You can find a use for this tool in just about every room of the house.

In your living room, you can use your line laser for things like hanging artwork, putting up shelves, or wall-mounting a TV. In the kitchen, it can come in handy for assembling cabinets, drilling holes for new hardware, and laying your backsplash tile pattern. Your bathroom's shower curtain rod, towel racks, and mirrors are all examples of fixtures that are easier to put up with the help of a laser level. 

To use this tool, begin by unlocking it. This frees up the pendulum within the device that allows it to automatically level the line it's projecting. Place the laser on a flat surface, turn it on, and wait a few minutes for it to calibrate before using the beam. You might also want to purchase a level that comes with a tripod, which will allow you to move the device to a convenient location relative to where you're working.