diff --git a/src/db/dbCIFReader.cc b/src/db/dbCIFReader.cc
index d70eedf38..6e47030b3 100644
--- a/src/db/dbCIFReader.cc
+++ b/src/db/dbCIFReader.cc
@@ -917,6 +917,8 @@ CIFReader::read_cell (db::Layout &layout, db::Cell &cell, double sf, int level)
 void 
 CIFReader::do_read (db::Layout &layout)
 {
+  tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 21, "File read");
+
   try {
   
     double sf = 0.01 / m_dbu;
diff --git a/src/db/dbDXFReader.cc b/src/db/dbDXFReader.cc
index 42ea9763e..86cb7a393 100644
--- a/src/db/dbDXFReader.cc
+++ b/src/db/dbDXFReader.cc
@@ -490,6 +490,8 @@ DXFReader::open_layer (db::Layout &layout, const std::string &n)
 void 
 DXFReader::do_read (db::Layout &layout, db::cell_index_type top)
 {
+  tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 21, "File read");
+
   m_new_layers.clear ();
 
   //  create the zero layer - this is not mapped to GDS but can be specified in the layer mapping as
diff --git a/src/db/dbGDS2ReaderBase.cc b/src/db/dbGDS2ReaderBase.cc
index e36afd08c..3447cafe2 100644
--- a/src/db/dbGDS2ReaderBase.cc
+++ b/src/db/dbGDS2ReaderBase.cc
@@ -233,6 +233,8 @@ eq_y (const GDS2XY &a, const GDS2XY &b)
 void 
 GDS2ReaderBase::do_read (db::Layout &layout) 
 {
+  tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 21, "File read");
+
   m_cellname = "";
   m_libname = "";
 
diff --git a/src/db/dbLayout.cc b/src/db/dbLayout.cc
index 14e6bccf0..3efa3a70e 100644
--- a/src/db/dbLayout.cc
+++ b/src/db/dbLayout.cc
@@ -1271,6 +1271,8 @@ Layout::update () const
 void 
 Layout::do_update ()
 {
+  tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 21, tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Sorting")));
+
   //  establish a progress report since this operation can take some time.
   //  HINT: because of some gcc bug, automatic destruction of the tl::Progress
   //  object does not work. We overcome this problem by creating the object with new 
diff --git a/src/db/dbOASISReader.cc b/src/db/dbOASISReader.cc
index 1863db72b..0da801454 100644
--- a/src/db/dbOASISReader.cc
+++ b/src/db/dbOASISReader.cc
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ static const char magic_bytes[] = { "%SEMI-OASIS\015\012" };
 void 
 OASISReader::do_read (db::Layout &layout)
 {
-  tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 31, "File read");
+  tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 21, "File read");
 
   unsigned char r;
   char *mb;
diff --git a/src/laybasic/layLayoutView.cc b/src/laybasic/layLayoutView.cc
index c5aa79673..afeeaef13 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/layLayoutView.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/layLayoutView.cc
@@ -3028,10 +3028,11 @@ LayoutView::load_layout (const std::string &filename, const db::LoadLayoutOption
 
   try {
 
+    tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 11, tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Loading")));
+
     //  load the file
     {
       tl::log << tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Loading file: ")) << filename << tl::to_string (QObject::tr (" with technology: ")) << technology;
-      tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 11, tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Loading")));
       lmap = cv->load (options, technology);
     }
 
@@ -3039,7 +3040,6 @@ LayoutView::load_layout (const std::string &filename, const db::LoadLayoutOption
     //  implicitly at some other time. This may throw an exception
     //  if the operation was cancelled.
     {
-      tl::SelfTimer timer (tl::verbosity () >= 11, tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Sorting")));
       cv->layout ().update ();
     }