I'm 26 years old and just bought a house and would like to finish the basement, never done anything like this before. If anyone has any tips on like measuring and/or how to sqaure up the walls. thank you

Mighty tall order there, but we will see what we can do.

First off, go to your local library. And borrow a copy of this book: http://www.booksmatter.com/b1592570585.htm

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finishing Your Basement: Illustrated

No you don't need to buy the book - Just go and borrow it. While you are at the shelves look at the books to either side, perhaps on the shelf above and the shelf below. You will find many, many books on the subject all chocked full of the how tos and considerations to take when considering how you are going to finish off your basement. There is a lot more than just wanting to "finish the basement" and actually creating a living space down stairs.

The reason why I suggest this particular book is because it appears to cover a lot of information, and it has pictures. Trust me a picture is worth a thousand words.

How to measure, how to square up a wall, how to hammer a nail are all basic construction education, say Construction 101.

My General rule of thumb on measuring is to measure twice cut once. I don't use a tape measure I use a folding carpenter's measuring stick. Why? Because you can get the best accurate measure from it. The end piece on a tape measure soon starts to wiggle and can measure incorrectly by up to 1/8 perhaps even 7 1/6th of an inch. Please note that in some instances you are pushing the end against a side while others you have it looped over and are pulling - if your wiggle is pronounced that wiggle can carry over to your lumber cut and you can mis-cut a fraction of an inch. Even having a plus miscut of a fraction of an inch is bad news - more difficult to cut off a fraction of an inch with say a circular saw. I leave tape measures (24' 36' 100') for either really really big measurements (on the order of more than ten feet (the ' means feet " means inches BTW) or for rough planning when I'm already rounding off to the nearest inch or foot for the purpose of calculating how much material I will need for a job.

A construction measuring tape/stick will have every number of inches that are base 16 in red. Therefore: 16, 32, 48, 64... etc which is the standard spacing on center *the center of the stud* for construction of studs (usually upright members and joists). Construction materials (Ply wood, sheets of dry wall blah) are based on the 16" Note that 48" are 4 feet, thus the reason why ply wood and dry wall come in 4 foot wide sheets - far easier to match up to your stud layout of 16" on center (and the next usually used for ceiling joists of 24" on center).

To square a frame easily is the 3,4,5 method. Measure 3 down one side of a corner, 4 down the other (inches, feet, yards, meters, miles - doesn't matter) then the measurement between the two points diagonally across your square will be 5 if it is a square. Some people argue that it is a Greek man's method Pythagoras supposedly "invented" it however evidence suggests that the Egyptians used it well before he was born. The evidence? The pyramids as a small example LOL.

However now days you don't usually have to mess with all of that. There are squares - kind of a misleading name considering none of them are square. A carpenter's framing square is L shaped, usually one arm is 24" long, the other slightly shorter (18" usually I have seen ones more and less than that). A "quick square" is a triangular bit of metal with (usually) a sliding bar that can be locked down usually used to do a repeat say like outlining the riser and step of a stair stringer (The diagonal long board notched out for the steps). The triangle is a perfect squared corner with a 45 degree angle side.

Levels come in various sizes and today are also lazer, digital and I guess plain magical. I prefer old school bubble levels - the one with the liquid filled capsule and an air bubble. Those need to be calibrated - yes the level can be off level and adjusted, say once a year if you use it alot. These are great for finding your level and plumb - usually finding these two aspects of space will lead to square. Level is horizontal plumb refers to upright or vertical. Then there is the lower plumb-bob - a length of string with a lead *usually) pointer at one end used to local the vertical - old school.

This post is getting long and I just answered the three (??) asked questions. If you want more specific answers then ask more specific questions, we here are more than happy to help you out as you swim in the pool - Which is to say Welcome to AnswerPool.