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I'm making a 13 ft-long (4 m) built-in desk along one wall of a room. Adopting the engineer's creed that anything worth thinking is worth over-thinking, I used my neighbor's tripod-mounted optical level to make level marks on the wall. It turns out the floor slopes about 1/2" (13 mm) over the 13 ft.

Should I make the desk true level, or level with the floor?

Peter Mortensen
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RustyShackleford
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    True level or coffee spills out of the mug... – Solar Mike Apr 12 '21 at 11:00
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    Why would you want to make an unlevel desk? Do you plan to jack up the floor in the future? If so then just do it in the present and then build your desk. – MonkeyZeus Apr 12 '21 at 14:24
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    True level has the benefit that rounded and cylindrical objects can be placed on the desk without them rolling off. Will you have a need to place round or cylindrical objects on the desk? – J... Apr 12 '21 at 16:24
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    I remember taking a look at new construction for my synagogue. Floor was supposed to be level - nobody (except probably the contractor that poured the concrete) knew it wasn't. Then the shelving people did their job. It was then quite obvious that the floor sloped several inches and had to be replaced. 1/2" over 13' isn't so bad, but I would make the desk as level as possible. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Apr 12 '21 at 16:25
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    @manassehkatz-Moving2Codidact I don't get how that happens. Concrete is generally self-levelling since it's poured as a liquid initially. It's actually extra work to make it not be level (e.g. in a bathroom for drainage). Are you by any chance in an earthquake zone? Or somewhere subject to frost-heaves or sinkholes? It might've been level initially and the ground shifted over time... – Darrel Hoffman Apr 12 '21 at 16:55
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    @DarrelHoffman I don't know how it happened, but it did. ~ 20' x 60', 2nd floor, last 20' had a severe slope. My best guess is that the forms were not installed level and they made the concrete fit the forms, but I really don't know. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Apr 12 '21 at 16:58
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    You've probably never even experienced true level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQoRfieZJxI – Tyler Healey Apr 12 '21 at 17:29
  • Definitely go with true level. Evidently my desks and tables aren't level, since I'll have totes that end up on the floor. Then again, that's usually because of the Rube Goldberg rule at my place, where everything ends up on the floor, whether I want it to or not. Open up a 3D printer and bump into something that causes books across the room to fall off the shelf... – computercarguy Apr 12 '21 at 17:38
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    13mm drop over 4m? That's 0.18 Degrees. Optically, not a big difference. Not sure I could make a table that close to level (although I use a bubble level, not a laser). – Scottie H Apr 13 '21 at 16:38
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    It wasn't a laser level, just an optical one, where you sight through a little telescope.. After putting in the cleats (lagged to wall studs) at true level, and measuring the distance to floor again, it's not really a consistent 1/2" drop but more an irregularity up to that amount, and i mostly hit the high and low points at the point I made my OP. – RustyShackleford Apr 13 '21 at 17:11
  • @TylerHealey. :-) :-) :-) – RustyShackleford Apr 13 '21 at 18:07
  • @computercarguy - thing is, once something's on the floor, it cannot fall anywhere else. I just leave it there... – Tim Apr 14 '21 at 10:58
  • @Tim, that's usually when it disappears under something. Or I end up stepping on it and breaking it, if it's not already broken from the fall, or "all the things" pile up so much that they fall off the top of the pile. And I have a hard time bending down to always pick things up from being stored on the floor. My back isn't great, but it's really my stomach that is the problem, when it gets in the way. ;-) – computercarguy Apr 14 '21 at 15:41
  • @computercarguy - I like it! I try to have only steel things fall on the floor. My magnet on a string is an absolute boon! – Tim Apr 14 '21 at 15:45
  • @Tim, the way things go for me, I'd drop the string. Lol. Also, I've had paper "roll" off a table, so I put a pen on it to weigh it down, only for the pen and the paper to be on the floor, so I put a book on top of both, only for the book to end up on the floor under the paper and the pen missing. :-D – computercarguy Apr 14 '21 at 15:47
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    @computercarguy - no, you tie the other end of the string round your wrist/neck/whatever. And while you're at it, string on the pen... – Tim Apr 14 '21 at 15:51

4 Answers4

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1/2" isn't bad. I'd make it true level. You'd never install cabinets out of level I don't see why you'd make your built-in desk follow the floor.

Fresh Codemonger
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Go with true level wherever you can, and in this case it's probably warranted too. If levelling the desk poses no optical distractions, then go ahead.

But there are cases where it might be better not to level: if you have existing cabinetry, windows, doors, trims etc.. where it would become noticeable that you have a 1/2in offset, you can go with the tilt or meet halfway for optical reasons.

Storing spheres, cylinders, card stacking and filling your coffee to the brim of course could forestall this option. Reminds of the carpenters' expression for level: "dead balls".

On the other hand, if levelling the desk highlights the tilt of other finishings in the room, then you could opt to apply some tilt or meeting half-way. It's not uncommon to apply gradual corrections when spacing out / levelling spindles, wall decorations, window openings, trims.

P2000
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    Also: if your floor is not level, your chair will not be level either. A level desk and a not-level chair can create ergonomic problems or make it difficult to push the chair completely under the desk. A slope of 1/2" over 13' probably isn't enough to be noticeable, but I've seen problems like this in more severe cases. – bta Apr 14 '21 at 00:18
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True level is the norm. Note that insurance assessors use this to determine how old damage is in the event of a claim.

Example: we had earthquakes in 2010-11 and our 1920's home sunk. The kitchen was replaced in around 2000. The assessors used fancy levels to prove that the kitchen bench was straight and the floor was not-straight, therefore the house had sunk before the kitchen was installed, and prior damage is not covered by the insurer.

UPSHOT: The benchtop and floor were tilted at the same rate-of-fall, proving to the insurer that the damage was not pre-existing and the house likely sank due to the quake.... but that was a decade of arguing and not relevant here.

Criggie
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True level! Computer monitors will be slightly crooked and pencils will roll if not.

Mariah
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