📐👷 Building a HOUSE Step by Step | How to Layout a Construction Site
👉 In this video, I'll show you how to do a LAYOUT step-by-step. You'll learn what a layout and land leveling plan is 📏 and see how to start building a house from scratch. A fundamental part of house construction is learning 📐 how to square a plot and how to take squares in masonry. I'll explain it here!
▶️ PART 2 of the video https://cutt.ly/MEPjEmj
▶️ PART 3 of the video https://cutt.ly/FEPjSLN
Before learning how to start building a house, it's essential that we start with the foundation layout. Let's see.
LAYOUT IN HOUSE CONSTRUCTION
What is a layout in construction or what is a layout?
Land marking and leveling consists of transferring all the construction elements listed on the plans to the ground.
SITE PREPARATION
Regardless of the system used to mark out the work, we need land in easy-to-use conditions to carry it out. The steps to follow are:
• Land clearing (free of debris or discards)
• Land leveling or grading
• Marking and placing boundary markers
What is land marking?
Marking is the verification of the land's measurement. It consists of marking the four corners that delimit the land. This work is carried out by a Surveyor (Geographical Engineer), using special measuring devices (theodolite) and placing a boundary marker at each corner.
Basic advice:
If the boundary markers are not in place, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MARK THE WORKS. Even if there is a fence or fence wire attempting to mark the boundaries, who can ensure they are properly placed? The surveyor is the only one authorized to guarantee the proper alignment of a piece of land.
The surveyor performs the Boundary Verification and issues a survey plan or boundary marking certificate, recording the measurement.
This ensures that when laying out and leveling the land, we do not encroach on neighboring lots.
LAND ORGANIZATION
It is very important that before beginning the layout and leveling (staking out), we "organize" the work into sectors.
It will be necessary to leave a space for the storage of non-perishable materials such as bricks, sand, and stone, to have everything on hand and reduce hauling times within the construction site.
It is essential to stockpile materials that will be used in the initial stages BEFORE laying out the land, so as not to hinder the passage of trucks or unloading vehicles.
LAYOUT PLANS OR FOUNDATION PLANS
For many years, I used the construction plan to lay out a house, but over time, I got used to replacing it with the layout plan.
The big difference between this and the dimensioned plan is the reference lines used to mark the walls. In this case, two perpendicular layout axes were used that intersect wherever we decide to do so, in this case coinciding with two walls.
From these axes, ALL measurements of the project are taken, horizontally or vertically, but always from the same axis. This ensures that we avoid errors in partial measurements, both cumulative and incorrect. The layout and leveling plans must provide the greatest guarantees of safety at work.
The layout axes are perpendicular to each other (90°), and to achieve this, we use the 3:4:5 rule, thanks to the Pythagorean theorem.
If you want to know what method 3, 4, and 5 is for applying to the layout plan, I invite you to watch the video and see how to draw squares in masonry.
HOW TO LAYOUT A HOUSE
What are the layout methods?
There are two most common types of layout:
Playpen: What is a layout playpen? It consists of an exterior fence of continuous timbers on which one side and the other of each wall are marked with nails.
Ridges: Each wall has a ridge at each end (2 stakes + 1 crossbar) on which the nails are placed.
This last system avoids the use of so much wood and better identifies each wall of the house.
HOW TO MARK WALLS: LAYOUT PLAN
With the help of the dimensions from the layout plan, the walls and foundations are marked on the crossbar. I usually place nails ONLY delineating the walls and then the foundations, marking them with a pencil or using a saw to cut them. This minimizes marking errors.
On the marks (7.5 cm on each side), the lines that delineate the foundations (strip footings) are placed, and with the help of a plumb line, the marks are transferred to the ground.
FOUNDATION MEASUREMENTS
When laying out the construction layout, strip footing foundations are usually 15 cm wider than the walls and have a variable depth, depending on the type of soil in the area. The important thing is to remove the topsoil (organic soil) and reach firmer ground that can better support the construction loads.