You may have noticed that there are black diamonds on the tape. These are stud and joist marks. Although they don’t appear on all tape measures, they are a great addition to those that they do. The stud marks appear at 16” intervals whilst the joist marks appear at 19 3/16” intervals.
The black diamond joist marks are designed for spacing I-beam timbers.
Every 16 inches, you may see a double arrow or a number marked in red. This helps you to locate every stud running across the wall once you’ve located the first one without needing to use a stud finder.
Did you know that the first inch on a tape measure is actually short by 1/16 of an inch? This is why the end hook is loose, as it measures exactly 1/16 of an inch to provide accurate results.