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Not a very important question, but I'm wondering what the little diamonds are on my tape measure. It's a Stanley Fatmax from the UK © 2011. The first one is at ~488 mm (~19.2 inch), and then every ~488 mm after that along the tape, but they don't align with any regular measurement in can fathom.

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It is an alternative framing spacing, used for studs, joists and rafters. It is an "identifier" for a stud layout much like the 16" center layout where you will get an even amount of spaces over an 8 ft. piece of material, or for that matter a 16 ft. piece of material as well.

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    In other words, instead of 6 studs per 8' span, you get 5 joists for the 8' span.
    – BMitch
    Commented Mar 25, 2022 at 12:49
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    Huh... I've heard of studs on 16" & 24" centers, but 19" centers?
    – FreeMan
    Commented Mar 25, 2022 at 14:06
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    @FreeMan — it varies from place to place, but those are usually drawn by architects that hate carpenters ;)
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Mar 26, 2022 at 22:47
  • I have used those center marks myself. I was building an outbuilding using 2X6 oak salvaged from a barn, and needed to adjust my framing to work with the material I had. It worked out pretty good for my occasion.
    – Jack
    Commented Mar 27, 2022 at 18:45
  • So useless in the UK as we don't have matchstick houses?
    – Paul Uszak
    Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 1:08

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