Abstract: A grid layout system including a grid dispenser mounted on a boom of a continuous miner for movement with a cutting drum to cut a passageway in a rock face. A roll of grid material, such as integral biaxially oriented geogrid, is fed from the dispenser and maintained under tension as it is positioned against the ceiling of the passageway to be secured thereto as a supplemental support. The tensioning device takes up any slack in the grid material during the cutting operation to preclude engagement of the grid material with the cutting drum. The edges of the grid material are longitudinally folded over the middle section and temporarily held in this manner to provide the roll of the grid material within the dispenser with a width less than the cutting drum. A spreader bar opens the grid material to its full width as it is dispensed.