Measuring Tools

In this category, you’ll find spirit levels, laser measuring tools, tape measures and telescopic measures, electronic spirit levels with a protractor, as well as torque wrenches. They cover three basic tasks: checking whether something is straight, measuring a distance or angle, and tightening a bolt to the correct torque. You’ll find tools for both the building site and the workshop.

A tape measure is suitable for close-range measurements and for anything you can touch. A laser measure is handy for long distances, at heights, and in situations where you’d need a second person to hold the end. In practice, most professionals have both, as they handle different types of jobs in the course of a single day.

A torque wrench shows how tightly you are tightening a bolt, in newton-metres. You need it for car wheels, engine heads and wherever the manufacturer specifies a particular tightening torque. You can’t get it right by hand: you’ll either leave it too loose or strip the thread.

It refers to how much the reading may deviate from the actual value. On spirit levels, this is usually given in millimetres per metre; on laser distance measures, it is given as plus or minus a few millimetres; and on protractors, it is given in tenths of a degree. The greater the distance you are measuring, the more significant this difference becomes.

Electronic instruments and torque meters need to be checked every now and then, especially if they’ve been dropped or are used on a daily basis. You can check a simple spirit level yourself: place it on a surface, mark the position of the bubble, turn it 180 degrees at the same point and see if it reads the same.

The green beam is much clearer, especially in a well-lit area or at a great distance, because the eye can distinguish it more easily. The red one costs less and is sufficient in enclosed, shady areas. If you’re working on a building site with plenty of light, the green laser will save you a lot of faffing about.

It’s a laser that projects both horizontal and vertical lines around the room at the same time, so you have a reference point for all the walls at once. You can use it when fitting tiles, plasterboard, cupboards and suspended ceilings. It saves you from having to measure and mark out each wall over and over again.

The rotary level rotates the beam through a 360-degree circle and provides a reference plane throughout the entire site, even on a large construction site. It is the tool of choice for earthworks, foundations, flooring and outdoor work, where it is usually used in conjunction with a receiver, as the laser beam is not visible to the naked eye in direct sunlight.

Not for handheld measurements, but as soon as you need a stable reference line for any length of time, a tripod is essential. It keeps the instrument steady at the height you want and leaves both your hands free. At Geosantro, you’ll find tripods adjustable from 66 to 180 centimetres for laser instruments.

From Geosantro, online or at our shops in Limassol and Nicosia. You’ll find spirit levels, laser distance metres, multi-line and rotary lasers, measuring tapes and torque meters, with free delivery throughout Cyprus on orders over 50 euros. Tell us what kind of work you do and we’ll recommend the right tool for you.