How to Measure Inside Distances Accurately

Ever run into the problem of trying to measure something with two inside angles, like the inside of a window frame? You put one end of your tape measure into a corner, stretch the tape across the frame to the other side, and the tape measure can't fit into the corner. You end up rolling the tape into the corner as best you can and getting a "pretty accurate" measurement. Well, if you use one of these simple tricks you won’t have to work with "pretty accurate" measurements anymore; you'll know your inside dimensions exactly.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 2 pieces of wood
• Marker
• Tape measure
• Wooden ruler
• Tape measure

Two pieces of wood

1. Place the end of one of the pieces of wood into the corner of the window frame.
2. Now place the end of the other piece of wood in the opposite corner and align the two piece of wood so they're laying side by side.
3. Make a mark on both pieces of wood at a point where they overlap.
4. Remove the pieces of wood then lay them beside each other so the marks on both pieces are lined up once again.
5. Now, you can accurately measure the inside dimension by simply measuring the distance from end to end of the two pieces of wood.

Wooden ruler method

6. Place a small wooden ruler in one corner of the window frame.
7. Use your tape measure to measure the distance from the opposite side of the window frame back to the end of the ruler.
8. Adding together the measurement from the tape measure and the known length of the ruler will give you the true inside dimension of the window frame.

Tips & Warnings

• Putting a piece of tape across the two pieces of wood will hold them in place while you measure the end to end distance.
• You don't have to use a wooden ruler, you can use any straight object as long as you know how (or can measure) how long it is.