My level transit took a dive after a sprinkler line burst in Bakersfield

I set up on wet ground last Tuesday and the tripod sunk 3 inches mid-shot, so now I always stomp the legs down like I'm breaking in boots, anyone else had a setup shift ruin a grade check?

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kim_west17d ago

...and honestly, stomping the legs down is the only way to go now. I had a similar thing happen years ago when I was helping a buddy pour a small slab in his backyard. We set up on ground that looked solid, but it was just a thin crust over mud from a recent storm. The whole instrument tilted about halfway through our level loop and we didn't catch it until we were checking the forms. Every single elevation was off by a good two inches. We had to redo every stake and it took us the whole afternoon. That was the day I learned to really stomp each leg several times, then give it one more good push for good measure. Wet ground is a liar, plain and simple.