What Is Building Layout | Layout of Building Plan | Foundation Marking and Building Layout Method
Introduction
The placement of the structure, particularly its foundations, will be determined by controlling measurements and also references on a drawing and this process is called Building Layout.
Overall length and breadth, distances to roadway centerlines and other structures, inner structural measures, approaches as well as rights-of-way, and so on are all examples.
Whenever you layout a building, you must follow the architect’s drawing or certain time engineer’s drawings.
The drawings will show you where everything must be set out, and it is an essential way to ensure that no mistakes can happen.
When a mistake has been made and not identified before the whole construction begins, it may be an expensive mistake that costs thousands of rupees.
Read More: Types of Foundation In Building Construction
What Is Building Layout?
A building layout indicates the foundation plan on a ground surface, as shown in its drawings so that in order to carry out excavation, the positions, as well as orientation of the structure, can be precisely defined.
The foundation is set out as per the engineer’s or architect’s foundation plan drawings and specifications.
The layout of building plan involves the entire structure, so it must be done once the conditional survey with desk study is completed.
Building Foundation Layout
All garbage, obstacles, and even growing plants should be cleared from the whole area.
Setting out a building is the process of bringing architectural concepts from drawings to the ground.
It determines the location point of site boundaries, wall center lines, foundations, columns, along with other structural elements.
It also provides the proper size, angle, as well as level of the building. The entire structure must be placed and constructed in accordance with the initial setting out.
The structure’s regulating points can be marked so the construction staff can quickly find them.
This generally includes utilizing stakes, batter board with string lines, drill holes, cut-and-fill notations, and other ways to identify the building’s corners, horizontal and vertical locations.
The structure and foundation are placed in accordance with the controlled measurements as well as references on the produced drawings.
The total length and breadth of the structure, lengths to road center-line and some other structures, measurements throughout the structure, and other assessments about approaches as well as rights-of-way are all included in the measurements and references.
Objectives Of Building Layout
The purposes of surveying for construction works are to set out the planned structure in accordance with established designs and indicate the project’s controlling points in the most practical way for the construction forces.
The stakes, drill holes, batter boards mostly with string lines, cut-and-fill notations, and some other traditional methods are used to indicate the building’s corners as well as other lateral and vertical positions.
Generally, some type of reconnaissance, as well as site assessment, precedes the exact layout of the structure. The procedures listed below are typical of large construction projects:
- Conducted reconnaissance (aerial, map, and ground)
- Choosing a location (paper and instrument)
- Specifying control (horizontal and vertical)
- Observing topography (plane table)
Classifications Of Building Plan Drawings
The building plans are a series of diagrams that includes site plans, floor plans, elevations, cross-sections, plumbing, electrical, as well as landscaping designs for the convenience of construction on the worksite.
The drawings are a way through which an architect or designer’s thoughts and conceptions are turned into actuality.
Various types of drawings are provided by an architect based on the details and complexities of the project for simplicity of understanding as well as smooth operation of the construction process. Several of the various types of drawings are explored in detail below,
- Site plan
- Floor plan
- Cross section
- Elevation
- Landscape plan
1. Site Plan
The site plan is a detailed diagram that displays the whole layout of a building. It indicates the site’s borders including access points, as well as nearby structures that are important for the design.
Site Layout Plan
These plans must follow local development laws, which may include limitations on historical sites. It works as an official agreement for obtaining government approval for construction.
A certified specialist, such as an architect, landscape architect, and engineer, must develop the site plan.
In the case of a construction project, the site plan must include indicating all essential connections, such as drainage as well as sewer lines, electrical and communications cables, water supply, external lighting, and so on.
2. Floor Plan
The floor plan viewpoint is described as a vertical orthographic view of an object onto the horizontal plane crossing through the structure.
The floor plan is a great detailed description of the room layout. The floor plans are created regardless of whether they will be used in the construction of a house, store, or commercial project.
Floor Plan of Building
The applications involve a knowledge of the size and various types of installments. This helps to acquire a perspective of how the limited room area should be used.
A drawing, often to scale, illustrating the interconnections between rooms, spaces, and some other physical elements with a single level of the structure, floor Plan Specifications, Interior walls including corridors, restrooms, doors and windows, refrigerators, water heaters, and so on.
3. Cross Section
Cross-section illustrations depict viewpoints of the house as if you had cut down through the roof with a saw and looking through a resulting opening.
These perspectives will enable the builder to better understanding the inner and external construction details. The more complicated a housing design, the more and more cross-sections should be included.
Cross Section of Building
The cross-section drawings can be used to illustrate wall and roof frame elements, external wall layers, staircase structure, and even interior features like soffits, cabinets, and ceiling height.
Window measurements, exact positions in reference to interior walls, and heights with respect to a ceiling or floor are also shown in cross-sections. Apart from sections that expressly specify wall or floor layer, cross-sections generally may not reveal completed wall or flooring materials.
4. Elevation
Elevation diagrams are a type of architectural drawing that shows a building or a part of a building. A drawing of a building’s interior surface taken from a vertical plane looking straight at it is called an elevation.
This is the same as if you stand right in front of a structure and looked at it. The elevations are a popular design drawing as well as a professional architectural or engineering standard used to graphically represent buildings.
Elevation diagrams are orthographic projections. This indicates there is no foreshortening as well as they are not depicted in perspective. A projection sketch of a single side of a building is known as an elevation diagram.
The elevation drawing’s aim is to show how a specific side of the house will look when finished, and also provide vertical height measurements. Four elevations are generally sketched, one for each side of the house.
Typically, an elevation plan contains the identification of a house particular side which the elevation shows, doors, and windows, Material symbols, grade lines, roof features, finished floor along with ceiling levels, decks and patios, Porches, location of exterior wall corners and dimensions of key elements in the vertical plane.
5. Landscape Plan
The landscape design is similar to an outdoor area for the floor plan. The landscape design, similar to a floor plan, produces a visual representation of a location utilizing scaled measurements.
Natural features such as trees, flowers, and grass, and also man-made components such as garden furniture, waterfalls, and sheds, are all included in landscape plans.
Overlays for irrigation as well as lighting are also included in landscape designs.
Landscape plans are generally utilized to plan the layout of outside space, whether that is a private garden plan for the house or a commercial plan for a business.
Making the landscaping plan can also help with the material selection process. Also, it provides the owner of the property as well as the landscaping contractor with better cost estimating tools, allowing the project to be finished within financial limitations.
Read More: Construction Drawings | Types of Construction Drawing Used In Building Construction
Building Layout Tools
The most widely used layout tools are as follows:
1. String line
To differentiate the dimensions of a building layout, a sledgehammer is utilized to drive corner pegs, batter boards, as well as posts into the ground.
2. SledgeHammer
The sledgehammer is utilized to drive corner pegs, batter boards, as well as posts into the ground.
3. Posthole Auger
In some soils, the posthole auger is utilized to drill the holes needed to correctly set posts.
4. Handsaw
For cut batter boards as well as posts, a handsaw is needed.
5. Hatchet
The hatchet is used to sharpen batter-board posts as well as stakes.
6. Hammer
When building batter boards, you will need a hammer.
7. Chalk Line
To produce a straight guideline, the chalk line is required to put chalk on the surface.
8. 30 Meter Tape
The 30-meter tape is being used to measure diagonally (typically in 100-foot lengths) and also to draw out excavation and foundation marks.
9. Tracing Tape
For placing excavation or foundation lines, tracing tape is utilized. This tape is roughly 1 inch broad and composed of cotton fabric. It generally comes in a length of 200 feet.
10. Carpenter’s level
The carpenter’s level is being used to sight level lines as well as level a surface. It can be utilized with a straightedge or immediately on the surface.
11. Line Level
The presence of a spirit bubble on the line level shows that it must be level. When it is put midway between the spots to be leveled, it gives the best results.
12. Automatic Level
An automated level can generate grades across short distances by measuring estimated changes in elevation. The landscape, level bubble, as well as index line may all be seen in the tube.
13. 8d Nails
8d nails are used to secure the string line to a batter board.
14. Plumbing Bob
Corners of a building measurement are located using a plumbing bob.
15. Framing Square
Proper squareness of lines is checked using a framing square.
Read More: Building Construction Process from Start to Finish | Construction Stages of Building a House pdf
Method Of Layout Of Building
For the simplest building layout, as in a rectangle, a line connected to corner posts marks the building’s outline, a line can be attached to a nail on top of the post.
To cut off 90-degree angles for the remaining corners, utilize a theodolite, builder’s square, or site square. Ranging rods can be required to create a straight line between corner posts.
Foundation Layout Plan
The corner posts are generally 50 mm x 50mm wood posts with a nail in the middle driven firmly into the ground.
Dried lime or a similar powder can be used to draw the outline on the ground. Timber profile boards can be used at the corners.
The profile board is generally 0.6 m -1m tall and made up of two 50 mm x 50mm posts and a 150 mm X 38mm cross-board pushed a minimum of 600mm into the ground.
When a building’s shape is more complicated than a conventional rectangle, a range of points must be established in the same manner that a conventional rectangle must be laid out.
However, extreme caution is needed, as the number of points increases, small mistakes are more likely to happen.
