This post is not for the seasoned pro, but more for the confused homeowner or do-it yourselfer who would like to know what all the little lines on a tape measure are for. Learning to read a tape measure will make many of your projects much easier. Here is a close-up picture of a tape measure and some simple fraction rules to go along with it.

- The large numbers on the tape measure are usually inches, they go from 1 to however long the tape measure is (360 for a 30 ft tape measure).
- Every 12 inches is 1 ft. (remedial but important) so the feet markers go 1 to however long the tape is…usually this mark is smaller, painted between the inch marks. For example 1 – 1 would equal 1 foot 1 inch, 30 – 10 would equal 30 feet 10 inches.
-The fraction marks are added to the inch measurement. For example the marks on the picture would be 13 1/16 inches, 13 1/8 inches, etc. If they moved to the mark after the 14, the measurements would be 14 and some fraction of an inch.
-The marks on the tape are as follows: 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 11/16, 3/4, 13/16, 7/8, 15/16 – These marks are of course the small marks between the inch marks. If for example you had something that landed on the last little mark before the 14 mark you would have 13 15/16 inches. If you landed on the 10 – 11 on the large mark in the middle of the inch marks you would have 10 feet 10 1/2 inches (remember 10 – 11 is marked but you do not have a full inch just yet.)
-Most people do not use the metric side of a tape measure, but if you happen to have one here is a some quick info for that side also. The small marks on this side are millimeters/mm they are 1/1000 of a meter. The larger marks are centimeters/cm they are 1/100 of a meter.
- If you were to land on the 100 cm mark with 5 little marks to the right of it you would have100 cm + 5mm = 100.5 cm or 1.005m (meters). This seems a little more simple to me but don’t try to convince anyone to give up inches:)

if I missed anything please comment…
Luke

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