Knowing how to design layout and read construction drawings is one of the essential and minimum requirements of anyone when embarking on a project. Knowing how to design layouts and read construction drawings helps architects better understand their products. Homeowners can discuss related issues with architects. Therefore, in the following article, PYRA Engineering will guide you through the most basic steps to know how to read a construction drawing for a house.
Construction Drawing Concept and Design Layout
If you are not in the industry, you will surely wonder what design layout and construction drawings are. Construction drawings are a combination of plans, sides, elevations, and sections of objects in a building. In other words, it is a drawing that the designer illustrates with drawing symbols.
The purpose of design layout and construction drawings is to provide images to begin construction, avoiding errors, ambiguity, or confusion. Construction drawings can be prepared by hand, but more commonly they must be prepared using computer-aided design (CAD) software.
Currently, there are many different stages of drawings such as:
- Sketch drawing: Sketch drawing, also known as concept drawing. This is a quick and simple to use freehand drawing style to explore original ideas for design. The aim is merely to investigate and communicate design principles as well as aesthetic concepts.
- Schematic drawings are working drawings that provide information about dimensions and graphics that can be used for a job. They can then be used to develop and communicate briefs, investigate potential sites and evaluate options, and develop approved ideas into a coherent and coordinated design.
- Construction Drawings: A construction drawing is a type of technical drawing used to define technical requirements for a project. Usually, the purpose of construction drawings is to clearly and accurately capture all the geometrical/technical features of a project so that the general contractor can build the project.
The Importance of Design layout and Construction drawings?
Have you ever wondered why it is important to have construction drawings before starting to work? Having construction drawings will help you a lot in construction process.
- Cost savings: Cost is one of the issues that many customers care about when starting to build a house or perform a certain project. Having a construction drawing will help you estimate the cost to spend, calculate the number of necessary materials as well as the entire detailed cost in the house.
- Estimating the bill of materials: What materials are needed for a project, and when they’re needed to be on site can be determine using construction drawings. You can rely on construction drawings to prepare necessary materials, and ensure that the construction is carried out smoothly and at the right stage. At the same time, having this bill of materials, you will calculate a part of the cost for your house or building.
- Ensure aesthetics: Based on construction drawings, the owner will partly imagine what the finished product will look like. From there, the owner can change or modify as desired based on the architect’s comments.
Regulations and Symbols Commonly Encountered in Design Layout and Construction Drawings
In design layout and construction drawings, the drawing board frame is a rectangle used to limit the amount of paper and information on it. The outer frame is a bold solid line, 10mm from the edge of the paper after cropping for A0 and A1 sizes, or 5mm for A2, A3, and A4 paper sizes.
The ratio in reading design drawings
The scale of the drawing is the ratio between the size measured on the figure and the corresponding size measured on the actual object. Depending on the drawing size, size, and complexity of the object to be represented, choose one of the following ratios: 1:5, 1:10, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200, 1: 500, 1: 1000, or 1:2000. So how does this ratio correspond to the parameters in the design?
- Scale 1:50,000 to 1:2000 is a small-scale drawing scale, greatly scaled down from reality. This scale often applies to large sizes such as cartographic drawings, maps of cities, regions, or even small towns. This type of scale is also used in urban and regional plans, such as master plans or aerial photometric surveys.
- This 1:1000 to 1:500 scale is often found when an overview of a building is needed and its location in an urban network such as a neighborhood. The feature of this scale is to highlight the infrastructure and other components. This ratio is useful for surveys of building height as well as land use.
- Scale 1:250 to 1:200 usually focuses on plans, sections, and facades in large buildings. It is even possible to consider spatial and compositional components.
- Scales from 1:150 to 1:100 can also be used for the first approaches of works and small works. In the case of larger buildings, architects will envisage more detailed drawings and models, including more defined structural and layout elements.
- 1:75 to 1:25 scale with textures, layouts, and relationships between floors, or also zoom in on rooms for more detail on specific components, such as plumbing, electrical, or structure.
- The 1:20 and 1:10 scales are representative of the furniture, showing the working of the components as well as the structure, showing the drawing details.
- The 1:5 to 1:1 ratio requires communicating technical details with greater precision.
- Depending on the scale of the project as well as the actual requirements when designing choose the appropriate ratio. The most commonly used ratio is 1:100 for modern houses, villas, or townhouse design documents.
Common Symbols in Designing the Layout and Reading Construction Drawings
Lines Standards
In design layout and construction drawings, there will be regulations on drawing lines, based on which architects, as well as contractors, can understand detailed information related to drawings.
If there are many overlapping lines in the drawing, the architect will prioritize the following order:
- The bold solid line (visible contour, visible edge dotted red line (hidden contour, hidden edge)
- Thin dotted stroke (limits the cut plane with two bold strokes at both ends)
- The thin dotted line (centerline, axis of symmetry)
- The solid line (dimension line)
Dimensions Standard
In construction drawings, dimensions will have 3 components. tThey are alignment lines, dimension lines, and size numbers. Architects, when representing a dimension on a drawing, need to do it in the order thatis: draw the line, draw the following dimensions, and then write the size number.
In this size section, there are also general provisions that are:
- Dimensions indicated on the drawing are the actual size of the object, regardless of the scale of the representation
- The unit of measure for the angle size in degrees, minutes, seconds and must be written after the size number
Common Symbols
Windows and doors in drawings also have their symbols. Here are the symbols that you often encounter in the process of designing hth about dreading construction drawings, you should know.
- Door symbols: These symbols represent the types of doors such as single doors, double doors, and the way the door is opened. These symbols will not be related to the material as well as the structure of the door or the technique of joining and mounting to the wall.
- Stair and ramp symbols: These symbols represent all types of stairs and ramps, regardless of building materials. If the drawing has a scale of 1:100 or greater, the staircase symbol must show details of both the material as well as the structure according to the calculated ratio of the structure.
- Baffle symbol: This symbol is represented by a bold solid line and is accompanied by a caption about the material. In ccalfthe drawing is 1:50 scale and larger, the partition symbol will need to show the details of the material as well as the structure according to the calculated ratio of the structure.
- Symbols of parts to be repaired: For parts that need repair, you can use these symbols and add a caption explaining the most necessary parameters.
- Construction material symbols: These construction material symbols help you understand which materials are used in the construction work, from which you can monitor a part of the progress of the work being done.
- Interior design drawing symbols: These are the basic furniture symbols used in the house. In addition, there are many other pieces of furniture used, you can rely on the shape of the object to know what it is. These symbols are drawn on the principle of the plan, that is, the projection from above.
Conclusion
The above article is the basic information as well as the necessary steps to help you know how to read construction drawings, especially house drawings, better understand the design as well as partially monitor the work in progress to what degree. If you need advice on design as well as construction-related issues, you can contact PYRA Engineering for the most detailed support from a team of engineering.
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