Read a Pitch on Site
Getting the pitch of a roof or ramp with a speed square and a level — or a hanging chalk line as the plumb reference.
Mark Bracket Positions on Your Level, Then Transfer Them to the Wall
Hold the towel bar's brackets against the level itself and mark where they land — then you're only leveling one thing on the wall and copying marks off it, instead of juggling the bar, the level, and a pencil at once.
hang a towel bar straight, crooked towel rack, mounting holes don't line up, get two screws level with each other
The Problem
Mounting a towel bar means getting two brackets level with each other at an exact spacing. Held against the wall, that's three jobs at once — keep the bar level, keep it centered, and mark both bracket positions — and a mark that drifts an eighth of an inch shows up as a bar that runs downhill.
The Technique
Take the wall out of it until the last step:
- Off the wall, hold the bar's brackets against your level and mark where each one lands on the level itself.
- At the wall, you now handle only the level: get it level and centered where you want the bar.
- Transfer the bracket marks from the level onto the wall.
- Mount the brackets to those marks.
The bracket spacing is captured once, off the wall, where nothing is fighting you — the on-wall step is reduced to leveling a single straightedge.
Pro tip: Run a strip of painter's tape along the level's edge before marking it, and the layout wipes away with the tape — the same trick makes the level reusable as a story stick for curtain brackets, floating shelves, or anything else with two mounting points.
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