Here’s why there are black diamonds on measuring tapes

If you look closely at your measuring tape, you’ll see black diamonds every so often. Whether you’ve always wondered what they were or never noticed them before, we’re here to enlighten.

It turns out, these black diamonds can actually help you when you’re remodeling your home, hanging something heavy or anchoring a piece of furniture.

For every 8-foot section of your wall, there should be six studs placed 16 inches apart.

That’s why there are red numbers highlighted every 16 inches. If you use the tape measure, you can note exactly where the studs are by using the red numbers and marking the studs using a pencil.

Here’s where the black diamonds come in: They represent the middle of the studs.

Starting at the 19.2-inch mark, the black diamond helps you find the center of the first stud.

The next black diamond is 19.2 inches away from the first stud (38.4 inches from the beginning of the tape measure), and the diamonds go all the way to the 96-inch mark, or 8 feet.

Not counting the stud at the beginning of the tape measure, you should be able to find the center of five studs easily.

So, put away your stud finder, because you already found your studs. By using the black diamonds, you can find studs and put up pictures of studs (like me) all over your house.

RELATED: 4 Tape Measure Tricks That You May Not Know About

A word of caution though: This only works if you know that the house was built using the 8-foot standard for placing studs.

If you’re not sure, take out the stud finder to first find your studs the old-fashioned way before depending on the measuring tape to guide you.

There are other mysterious markings on many tape measures

For instance, on some (especially in the UK), there are Roman numerals on them. This tells the user how accurate the tape measure is: I is the most accurate, and III is the third-most accurate.

This makes us wonder who would go about purchasing the level III tape, but that’s another topic for another day.

Looking for a laugh? Here’s an adorable baby that can’t stop laughing at this measuring tape.