# Measuring tapes, steel vs fiberglass



## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Am interested in some opinions. Anything 100' or less, I have stuck with steel tapes, while my 300' ers are fiberglass. While I don't have quite the confidence in fiberglass as steel, I am comfortable with being off say 1/2" or whatever it might be on a longer measurement, and, if it needs to be closer, I have a few times checked it with a steel tape. Anyway, I pulled out one of my 100' tapes the other day, and the numbers that I wanted were fine, but noticed that it was getting to the point that I need to replace it, so just curious what others may have found using fiberflass for tapes in the 100' range. Thank you.


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## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

We only buy plastic coated steel blades, as we need fairly good accuracy for large foundations,etc... If you take decent care of a plastic/steel tape, it should last a homeowner forever........


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Thank you, Sir. Yeah, I'm sure for general DIY you are right, buy a good one and it should last a lifetime, and in fact that's just was I was doing with this particular one Saturday, setting row stakes so that we could get the garden in, when I noticed that some of the numbers were starting to vanish. But in my job, I use them for laying out and/or verifying someone else's layout for equipment installations in commercial and industrial facilities, where they get spread across some pretty good size floors, and, during our play time, we volunteer a lot with Habitat, where I do quite a fair of the layout work in our area, including foundation, walls, etc. so they lead fairly diverse lives. Anyway, the latter part, preliminary site work, etc., was what got me started thinking of fiberglass, because, not telling you anything in that regard, the weather isn't always perfect for dragging tapes or anything else out on a new construction site, but the more I thought about it last night, decided to stick with steel. I do appreciate your reply though, because having some idea of what you do, and knowing that you use steel, means something. Thank you again.


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