INTRODUCTION

There are two types of drainage water:

(1) Foul water - Foul water consists of anything that comes from bathrooms,
kitchens, utility rooms, car washing areas etc. This must always go to your foul
water drain system.

(2) Surface water - Surface Water is rainwater only.

• In older properties, the existing rainwater pipes are often discharged to the
foul drain.
• This system is known as combined drainage. In a combined system, the
rainwater pipes are discharged via gully traps, to stop foul air escaping
from the drains.
• Modern systems keep the foul water and the surface water apart in
separate drains.
• This is known as a separate drainage system. With this method, the
rainwater is discharged either to a soakaway, watercourse or surface
water sewer.
• Draining rainwater to these points does not create foul air. It is extremely
important to ensure that you do not connect foul water to a surface water
drainage system.

Underground drainage
Underground drainage is water drainage which is routed underground, rather
than along the surface. There are a number of reasons to choose underground
drainage, and such systems need to be installed with care. People need to make
sure that they drain to the correct location, and that they are installed with
materials which are sturdy, and will be able to withstand incursions such as roots.
Irrigation and drainage companies can design and install such systems for
people who would prefer to leave things in the hands of experts.

Drainage is an ever present issue in any area where there is water. In some
cases, the natural design of a property provides enough surface drainage that
drainage is not a major problem. In other instances, people may notice pooling,
soggy soil, and other signs of a drainage problem. Drainage problems need to be
addressed because poor drainage can compromise the foundations of a home,
damage plants in the garden, look unsightly, and make it difficult to walk around
the garden or yard. Poor drainage can also contribute to erosion and other
problems.

One option is to install a surface drainage system which collects water and
routes it to storm drains, the street, or another suitable area. This can be
unsightly, however, leading some people to prefer an underground drainage
system. With underground drainage, a series of collection sites lead to
underground pipes which dump out into a downhill location. Collection sites
include downspouts from the gutters and grates in strategic low points around the
yard or garden.

The pipes used for underground drainage need to be able to repel roots which
could attempt to grow through them. Some people use a french drain system,
with perforated pipes surrounded by gravel. This system allows water to quickly
percolate through the gravel and into the pipes, allowing drainage to occur
everywhere the pipes run, rather than collecting water at central points. This
wicks subsurface water away quickly and efficiently.

Placing the outlet for a subsurface drainage system in the proper location is
important. For people in urban areas, pipes should drain to storm drains or into
the street, depending on local ordinances. It is important to avoid routing water
into the yards of neighbors, and to avoid creating an outlet on the property itself.
Residents of rural areas should try to place the outlet in a downhill location,
taking some measures to prevent erosion such as putting a screen on the outlet
to break up the water as it exits the drainage system.

Types of Drainage System

French drainage
A French drain is one common type of drainage system that most often is found
on flat land. It is made up of pipes that surround the structure and direct
underground water away from both the foundation and any nearby landscaping.
In most cases, it is necessary to dig several large, somewhat shallow holes to
install this type of drainage system. Each drainage trench then needs to be filled
with gravel. Some people can install this kind of drainage system on their own,
mostly by renting the right equipment, but many landscaping companies offer this
service.

Water damage easily can destroy any building, which is why a drainage system
usually is needed in almost every kind of structure. Whether the excess water
originates in the building or comes from the surrounding landscape, it generally
should be drained as soon as possible. Fortunately, there are several types of
drainage systems to choose from depending on the circumstances, though they
all mostly perform the same task. The most common kinds are the French drain,
the downspout drain, and the slope type.

Another kind of drainage system is a downspout drain which connects to the

gutter system of a building and carries water away from the roof toward the
ground. Downspout pipes can be rectangular or round, and mostly are made of
aluminum, copper, or steel. The most common downspout pipes on houses are
rectangular and white, though they often can be replaced to match the exterior
décor of a home. No matter what color or shape they are, they should divert rain
water not only toward the ground, but away from the foundation of a structure, as
well.

Similar to the other types of drainage systems, the main job of a slope drain is to
direct water away from a building and its landscaping. The primary method is to
allow the water to follow a natural route down a slope. Typically, a pipe is
installed and anchored to the small incline on which it sits. The pipe can be made
out of metal, concrete, or plastic, and often is covered with a grate to prevent
small animals or children from entering the area.

It usually is quite clear when there is a drainage issue. If there is no obvious

flooding, the mildew smell that accompanies standing water usually gives it
away, even if water is not visible. A slow leak also could cause an eventual issue,
weakening the structure over time. The loss of structural integrity in a building, a
strong mildew smell, mold, damage to the landscaping, and mosquitoes could be
consequences of water damage when no proper drainage system is in place.

Foundation drainage

A sloped finish grade and properly placed perimeter drains will keep the
basement dry
Underground water and runoff from rain and snow pose a threat both to the
structural integrity of the foundations I build and to below-grade interior living
space. Wet basements and cracked foundations are difficult to fix after the fact,
but good perimeter drainage, both at grade and down at the footings, is a cheap
and easy way to prevent problems. If you follow these rules of thumb for
perimeter grading and drain tile, you’ll sleep easy knowing that the water control
systems you buried today won’t bubble up into a callback tomorrow.

Surface Runoff
Although some wind-driven rain strikes the siding and drains onto the ground,
most surface runoff comes from the roof, and the amount of runoff varies
according to the size and style of the roof. A gable roof deposits all runoff onto
the ground under the eaves, with little runoff at the gable ends; a hip roof
distributes the runoff more evenly on all sides (see Figure 1).

Gable Roof Runoff Figure 1. Both of these

roofs cover approximately
2,500 square feet. The
gable roof deposits runoff
along two sides of the
house; the hip roof
spreads the runoff more or
less evenly along all sides.
Main roof valleys and
dormers concentrate the
runoff into smaller areas
on the ground.
Hip roof Runoff
 Roof Runoff
(from 2500 sq. ft. roof)

Rainfall Rainfall Volume Volume

Amount Rate (cubic ft.) (cubic ft.)
1 in. per hr. 200 1500
1 in. per day 200 1500
2 in. per hr. 400 3000
2 in. per day 400 300

Note: Every inch of rain, whether it falls during a one-hour downpour or

an all-day rain, deposits 1,500 gallons of water onto the ground around a
typical 2,500-square-foot roof surface. During a winter rainstorm, every
foot of melting snow on the roof adds an additional 1,500 gallons.

In addition, valleys at main roof intersections and dormers can concentrate runoff
into a relatively small area on the ground. In cold climates, runoff increases
significantly during spring rainstorms when higher temperatures and rain
combine to melt snow on both the roof and the ground, adding to the total
amount of surface water that must be drained away from the foundation.

Sloped grade.

Most basement water problems can be solved by properly sloping the ground
around the house. The finish grade should slope away from the foundation at the
rate of 1/2 to 1 inch per foot for 6 to 10 feet. A 2- to 4-inch cap of silty-clay
material will keep runoff from percolating down through the backfill.

A sloped grade will not work for long, however, if the perimeter fill is not
mechanically compacted, which is rare in residential construction. Instead,
compaction is left to chance and occurs slowly over a period of months or years,
depending on climate and the type of backfill used. Gravels and sands percolate
faster and may reconsolidate more quickly — typically, from three months to a
year. Silts and clays, which have a much slower percolation rate, may not
compact for several years.

In either case, however, the result is a negative grade that directs runoff back
toward the foundation. Depending on the type of backfill, sooner or later the
runoff will overwhelm the footing drainage system, and basement water problems
will appear. Silt or clay fill, which hold water longer than gravel or sand, can make
the foundation more susceptible to cracking from frost action; hydrostatic
pressure may also develop with these types of fill, forcing water through the slab-
footing joint. Rarely will any of these problems appear immediately, but down the
road, you’ll be faced with a messy and expensive repair job.

Gutters. While gutters can dramatically reduce the total ground area onto which
roof water drains, it is crucial to use a sloped leader to extend downspouts along
the ground to carry water away from the foundation (Figure 2).

Downspout with Sloped Leader

Figure 2. Sloped
downspout leaders
should discharge
at least 10 feet
away from the
foundation wall.

Use solid drain

Downspout with Catch Basin pipe to carry runoff
 from a concrete
catch basin to
daylight or a
drywell .

Otherwise, a gutter-and-downspout system compounds the drainage problem by

concentrating the entire roof runoff load into a few small areas, usually at the
house corners. Leaders should discharge onto sloping ground at least 10 feet
from the foundation. If downspouts dump directly into a catch basin on the
surface or underground, the collected runoff should be carried through a solid
drain pipe to a drywell or to daylight.

Keep gutters clear of leaves, pine needles, and ice. Overflow from blocked
gutters can follow the contour of the gutter and saturate the soffit and siding,
often making its way into the wall and wetting the insulation, drywall, and floor.
Similarly, gutters in cold climates can encourage ice damming, with the same
damaging results.

Hardscape.

Concrete or paver block sidewalks can also control percolation of runoff into the
backfill (Figure 3) — I’ve measured reductions in runoff percolation of between
300% and 500%.
 Concrete or Paver Sidewalk

Figure 3. A
properly sloped
concrete or paver
sidewalk will
reduce the amount
of runoff that
percolates through
the backfill (top).
Where perimeter
plantings are used
Plant Bed with Drain to landscape,
improve drainage
by burying a sheet
of polyethylene
below the plant
bed, with openings
cut out for roots
(bottom). Tie
shallow perforated
drain tile to solid
pipe to carry water
to daylight or a
drywell.

Again, the hardscape should be wide enough to cover the entire backfilled area,
and the surface should slope away from the foundation walls.

A less expensive technique is to bury a sheet of polyethylene in a plant bed. The

poly should cover the backfilled foundation trench and slope to a perforated drain
tile laid parallel to the foundation. Use solid pipe to carry runoff to daylight or to a
drywell. In landscaped areas, cut openings in the poly to accommodate plant and
tree roots.

Buried poly works well, so long as the backfill has been compacted. With a
negative grade, however, the poly actually directs the water into the foundation
wall. Plant and tree roots near the foundation can also compound problems with
uncompacted fill, because their root systems absorb water and cause the soil to
reconsolidate quickly. In a drought, tree roots can pull so much moisture out of
the soil that the foundation may settle.

Perimeter Footing Drains

Foundation perimeter drains work in both directions. They not only carry
rainwater percolating down through the backfill away from the foundation, they
also relieve excessive hydrostatic pressure from rising groundwater. By helping
the backfill dry out more quickly, properly installed perimeter drains reduce lateral
soil pressure, which in turn means that foundation walls can be designed to use
more porous materials and less steel.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to install perimeter drainage. Unfortunately,
many foundation contractors and home builders labor under a false sense of
security, reasoning that if complaints about leaky basements don’t surface within
the first year or two after a project is completed, their construction techniques
must be working. The fact of the matter is that basement water problems that
occur within the first twelve months are usually related to waterproofing defects.
Drain tile problems typically take many years to develop. Thus, many contractors
have buried time bombs that will eventually blow up in their faces.

Holes Down
Although porous cement-based tile is still in use today, most residential
contractors would agree that perforated 4-inch-diameter plastic pipe produces
tighter joints and is easier to work with. Not all would agree, however, on which
direction to place the holes in the pipe when installing footing drains.

The answer depends on the type of pipe. Flexible HDPE (high-density

polyethylene) is slotted all the way around, and some rigid PVC has a pattern of
holes around the entire circumference. With these types of drain tile, there is no
“right” direction because there are openings on all sides. Plugged holes on the
bottom are cleared by water entering through the sides and top.

The most popular drain tile, however, is rigid PVC that has just two parallel rows
of holes close together along its length. The classic approach is to lay this type of
drain tile with the holes facing down, in the five-o’clock and seven-o’clock
positions. This allows a rising water table to enter the pipe at its lowest point.

Filter fabric. While hydrostatic pressure helps to flush silt from the pipe, all
buried drain tile should be surrounded with coarse gravel or crushed stone, and
wrapped with a filtering material. Without a filter, silt will contaminate the stone
and eventually enter and plug the holes in the pipe (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Without a filter to keep silt from contaminating the surrounding stone,
drain tile can be rendered useless within just a few seasons (left). Pipe that is
pre-wrapped or “socked” with filter material will prevent drain tile from becoming
plugged (above).

Various geotextiles are available in rolls, and pre-wrapped or “socked” pipe —

pipe that is manufactured with a filter sleeve already in place — is also available.

Drain Tile Location

Filter paper and properly oriented perforations, however, will not guarantee that
drain tile will work. The pipe must also be installed carefully and in the right
location with respect to the footing and any interior slab.

From a pure engineering point of view, the ideal place to lay exterior drain tile is
alongside the footing, because water from a rising water table enters the pipe
sooner (Figure 5).

Pipe Even with Top of Footing
Pipe at Bottom of Footing
Figure 5. The best location for
rigid drain tile is alongside the
footing. Minimum requirements
for stone cover depend on
whether the tile is flush with the
top of the footing (top) or the
bottom (middle). In either case,
the top of the interior slab
should be at least 6 inches
above the top of the drain tile.
The pipe can be laid level or
pitched slightly.Where drain tile
 Pipe Below Footing
must be located lower than the
bottom of the footing (bottom),
avoid undermining the footing
by keeping the pipe outside of
a 60-degree angle measured
from the corner of the footing.
This location also requires
more stone cover for the pipe.

The drain tile does not need to be sloped, although a slight pitch helps keep the
pipe clear of silt and clay (particularly when the pipe has just two rows of holes
on the bottom). Avoid trying to slope flexible drain tile, however, because you can
inadvertently create dips and sags that will eventually collect silt and clog the
pipe (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Regardless of the type of pipe used or its shape, unfiltered drain tile
can easily be plugged with silt and clay (left). Water-seeking roots from trees
growing too near the foundation can also completely clog perimeter drains
(right).

In fact, undulating drain tile can result in premature failure of the drainage
system. This problem is more pronounced when trees are growing close to the
foundation, because wet silt and clay accumulating in low spots become targets
for water-seeking tree roots in dry periods or in dry climates. In a relatively short
period of time, tree roots can completely plug drain tile.

Some contractors create an even lower elevation for the tile by digging a small
trench next to the footing. To avoid undermining the foundation, however, most
codes require that the tile be placed outside a 60-degree angle from the footing.

Drain tile can also be placed on top of the footing. The advantage here is that the
tile will be as level as the footing — a good strategy when using flexible pipe
(Figure 7).

Figure 7. To keep flexible drain tile from developing low spots that will collect silt,
place it on top of the footings, making sure that the top of the pipe is not higher
than the top of the interior slab.

But this higher placement doesn’t control a rising ground water table as
effectively, and may require raising the elevation of the interior slab.

Specialty drainage products.

Today there are several products on the market, such as Form-A-Drain

(CertainTeed Corp., P.O. Box 860, Valley Forge, PA 19482; 800/233-8990;
www.certainteed.com), that provide both the footing form and the drain tile
(Figure 8).
Figure 8. Form-A-Drain stay-in-place footing forms ensure a level perimeter
drain and have a larger capacity than pipe systems (left). To control hydrostatic
pressure, dimpled drainage panels fastened against the foundation wall carry
water from the backfill into the perimeter drains (right).

These systems not only ensure that the drainage system is level, they often
provide more flow capacity than traditional pipe systems.

On sites where an exceptionally high ground water table creates intermittent

hydrostatic pressure on the foundation walls, dimpled sheets can be used in
conjunction with standard drain tile. These membrane systems provide a
waterproof barrier while also directing excess ground water from higher up on the
foundation walls into the perimeter drains.

Discharging Collected Water

Capturing ground water in a perimeter drainage system is only half the battle —
once you’ve collected water in the drain tile, you have to dispose of it
somewhere. Discharging water into sanitary sewer systems is generally illegal,
which leaves two basic ways to get rid of the water: On sloped sites, you can
extend unperforated drain tile to daylight and discharge the water on the ground;
on flat sites, you can collect the water in a sump basket and pump it to a
discharge area away from the basement.

Gravity discharge. Two elements are critical to proper function of a gravity

drainage system. First, although the perforated drain tile around the foundation
itself may be level, solid pipe running from the foundation to daylight should slope
at the rate of 1/16- to 1/8-inch per foot. Second, the open end of the discharge
line should prevent entry by rodents, frogs, snakes, and reptiles. One method is
to cover the exposed end of the pipe with 1/4-inch hardware cloth. Alternatively,
you can bury the end of the pipe in crushed stone, which will allow the water to
seep out below grade.
Pumped discharge. While gravity discharge to daylight is cheap and easy, I
recommend installing a sump basket as a backup. A submersible sump in the
bottom of the sump basket connects to a hose or rigid pipe system that carries
the collected water out of the basement. If you provide for the collection sump at
the time the foundation and slab are placed, the pump and discharge piping can
be installed later if needed.

The sump basket should be located inside the foundation, where it can pick up
ground water that rises under the slab. On a flat site where all ground water must
be pumped away, water from perimeter drains should also be directed into the
sump through drainage sleeves in the footing (Figures 9a & 9b).

Figure 9a. An interior sump basket picks up excess

water flowing through sleeves in the footing.

Figure 9b. A submersible pump connected to a hose or rigid pipe discharges the
water on the ground away from the foundation.
To avoid having to excavate later, be sure to place sleeves before the footings
are poured. Use 4-inch-diameter pipe, and space sleeves 6 to 8 feet apart
around the entire perimeter of the footing. In special cases where the slab is
placed a foot or more above the top of the footings, you can locate sleeves in the
foundation wall. Although water passing through the sleeves or under the footing
will generally find the sump basket on its own, I recommend an interior drain pipe
at the perimeter, terminating in the sump basket.
Setting out
Setting out is a fairly quick exercise in the scale of things, but obviously it has to
be done with great care. A few of the things that I will be mentioning below might
sound like I am writing a how to for dummies. Believe me mistakes made in the
setting out can come back to haunt you.
I have heard of houses being built on the wrong blocks. I have a friend who
when he was planning an extension to his house, found out that his side fence
was 1.5M out of position at one corner, in his neighbours favour. The neighbour
had a nice brick barbecue built partly on the wrong block land. the neighbours
was understandably peeved when he was asked to remove it. (Plus the expense
of new fence etc.).

Setting out - A concrete footing with a profile in the foreground. In

this case it uses star pickets for the pegs and the timber is fixed with
tek screws through the holes in the picket. Quick, solid, easy and
reusable.

First checks, before you start.

• I am assuming that the relevant permits to build have been obtained.

 • You should have an accurate block plan, with the lengths and angles of all
the boundaries marked on it.
• Use it to check every fence line. You may have to buy or hire a long tape
measure for this. I have used steel ones in the past, but they are expensive
and prone to damage. I have had a 50M fibreglass one for years. It is not as
accurate as a steel one (they stretch a touch) but it is indestructible.
• Every time that I have built on a boundary line (not a fence, but a proper
building) I have had a certified surveyor to do a check. I just don't trust the
existing fences. The very last job that I did, our surveyor pitched up an 85 to 50
discrepancy in one of the boundary walls. (The builder who put it in was a bit
like me, and on the cautious side, he gave us the odd 50mm just to make sure).
I could quite easily have assumed that the wall was OK and built partly on his
block.

Preliminary site works.

First off tidy up the site, remove all trees that are in the way. We all love trees on
our blocks, but don't try to save ones that are just too close to the new building.
They are an absolute pain to work around with scaffold etc. and they usually
have to go in the end anyway.

• On the drawing there is always one point and one line, or two reference
lines that cross one another, given to start the set out.
• Usually they are referenced to a couple of boundary lines, or an existing
building.
• Go around with a few steel pegs and bang them in near enough at the
corners of the proposed slab.
• From them mark out roughly the area of the job.

Somewhere on your drawings or in the building specifications there will be a

clause that says something to the effect that you should strip the area of the work
plus an extra 1m all around, of all topsoil and deleterious materials to a min.
depth of 150. before starting to place the compacted approved fill. This means
get rid of all vegetable matter, grass tree roots etc.

Get a machine in to clean up and remove top soil.

first layout

1. Go around again and put in pegs for the corners more accurately this time.
 2. At this stage your pegs can be short wooden things that you can tap a nail
in, steel rods, even screwdrivers or just besser blocks placed on the
ground.
3. Anything that will give you the positions of the corners.
4. As you do this do checks for square. (See section on squaring below).
5. At this stage, if the job is small and you getting machinery in for
excavation work, you may put string lines between the pegs, and mark out
the lines of trenches, or pier holes with lime.
6. You could then get the excavation work done first, before going on to the
next stage.

Profiles, batter boards or hurdles.

Setting out - A plan of a concrete slab showing

the profile positions.

Profiles consist of pegs, stakes or pickets, driven into the ground, with cross
piece of timber attached to them.

Like formwork they are only temporary and as such they don't always look too
neat, made up of all sorts of odds and ends and yet they have to contain quite a
lot of information, even on a simple house extension.
 Setting out - A 3D view showing the use of profiles on the above
slab.

They are used to transform the original pegs in the ground to something that is a
semi permanent but accurate reference of the important sizes, measurements
and offsets etc for a particular stage of a job. In the case above, when the
concrete slab is poured the profiles can then be removed, because further
measurements can be made from the actual concrete.

For the slab drawn, you may have marked on the profiles, before the excavator
starts work:-

1. The position of all the foundations, for external and internal walls.
2. The wall positions to let the plumber accurately to position his sewerage
pipes and floor wastes. To let the concretor place wall starter bars in the
slab or column HD bolts.
3. Possibly underground power supply and entry point.

• The first trade to use the profiles will be the excavator, so a reasonable
clearance between the work and the profile itself is needed, to allow the
machine to do it's job without squashing a hurdle her of there.
• In the sketches shown here I have shown them marked out with the
overall sizes of a concrete slab.
• They could just as easily have a set out for the width of excavation
trenches etc.
• Quite often a profile may consist of a board nailed to an existing
boundary fence. There is no absolute rule, just something that can be marked
out, take a nail or a screw and is fairly robust so it can't get moved out of
position easily.
 Setting out - A hurdle or profile used for setting out.

In most cases the guy on the job, say the plumber setting a floor waste or the
carpenter fixing the perimeter formwork, will use a spirit level to plumb down from
the string line to his job.

Many times, in sloping ground or when working in an excavation where it is hard

to use a level, then the plumb bob can be very effective. I have used it in
basement type situations where I simply hang the plumb line off the profile lines. I
use a tie wire hook through a slip knotted loop to adjust the length of the plumb
line.

A lot more convenient than straight edges and spirit levels.

Getting it square.

In my opening paragraph I mentioned that mistakes in setting out can come back
to haunt you. One of the classic mistakes is getting the floor plan out of square.
It has repercussions for the roofer, but worse still is when you have the floor tiler
in towards the end of the job and you can't escape the fact that the width of the
tiles varies from one end of a wall to the other. Far easier to get it right in the
setting out, right in the concrete (check the formwork before the pour) and
right when laying out the internal walls.

We mainly work with rectangles in building work. A rectangle has the following
attributes which help us in setting out building work.

1. Each of the four angles is 90 degrees, or square as we call it.

Great, this means that if we have a base line side set up, and then get a
second line set up off it at the right spot, at 90 degrees to the first we have
two of our side done.
2. The opposite sides are parallel, that is, they are the same distance
apart.
That is it! Measure the correct length from one end of the first side and the
same length from the other end and we have our third side fixed. Do the
same again and we have our fourth side. That could be it - finished.
3. The diagonals are equal lengths. That is the length from one set of
opposite corners is the same or equal to the length from the other set.
This means that if we have got a touch out with either of the first two steps
(as you do:-), we have an excellent way of checking our set out

Diagonal measures work well when they are at a reasonable angle. When the
rectangle is long and narrow then the angle is flatter this way is a less reliable
way of checking.

Setting out - Using a 3,4,5 triangle

Look at the sketch here. Let's say it is a plan of a house slab that you have to
form up.

• You should first have an idea of which will be the most important side, that
the rest are made square and parallel to it.
• Split it into rectangles and check the diagonals for equal. The dotted red
lines.
Also on this plan I have incorporated a right angle triangle known to builder's the
world over as a three four five triangle.

In our setting out of the rectangles in the sketch you can clearly see that each
rectangle could be also seen as two triangles.

• Two thousand five hundred years ago the ancient Greek philosopher and
mathematician Pythagoras discovered his truths about right angle triangles.
• Anyone with a cheap student's calculator can use Pythagoras' theorem to
get the length of the diagonal side if you know the lengths of the other two
sides. (The sum of the squares of the two shorter sides is equal to the square of
the other).
• There is a unique triangle that is often used to demonstrate this principle,
3,4,5. ( (3x3=9)+(4x4=16) 9+15=25, so does 5x5=25)
• So any triangle in this ratio, will have a 90 degree corner opposite the long
side.
• Ratio is the key word.
• The units don't matter as long as the ratio is the same.
• 3,4,5 miles, or 3,4,5 centimeters, the right angle is still there.
• So If we are looking at a house plan in the sketch above, I could use say
2M as my unit.
• I would bang a nail in the formwork 8M (that is 4units of 2M each) from the
bottom right hand corner.
• Another one would go in at 6M (3units of 2M) along the other edge.
• I would check the distance with my long tape between the two nails and if
it was within 5mm of the 10M (5units at 2m) that I was expecting, I would
modestly say to my offsider, "crikey we were lucky there mate".
• If it was a bit more out like 40mm or so then I would move the nail holding
my string line on the profile to correct the error, and then work from the altered
line, thinking myself lucky that I had checked the set out before we had done a
lot more work.

Back to top

Offsets

Setting out - Offset line around obstacles.

It is not good practice to use only a short section of an existing wall to get a line
that is a continuation of it. Far better to try to use as much of the existing wall as
possible, even if the wall has obstruction in the way. The way to do it is simple,
offset the line around the obstacles.
Even if the wall is clear, using an offset is the more accurate way, because there
could be local bumps in the wall that could throw your line off.

• In the sketch above I show a method of using the profile to offset the line
to miss obstacles and then reset to get the point that is a true extension of the
main building line.
• I want to mark out, on my profile (to the left), a building line for a new
extension, that is exactly a straight continuation of the main house wall.
• I just pick a distance from the house that gets me clear of the various
obstructions. In this case it is 145mm.
• I make sure the string line is offset the same distance from the house,and
then I put a nail or a screw into my profile at the continuation of that line. That is
I place a line parallel to the wall 145 off it.
• I then measure back the offset distance to get a point exactly in line with
the wall.
• I bang a nail into a brick joint or a peg touching the wall, and string a line,
shown dashed, to fix the true building line.

One a similar vein, sometimes when you have to get machinery into a job, rather
than just pull out the profiles that are in his way, first set up some offset or
recovery profiles. Say you set the recovery profile 6M away from the real one,
then it is a case of a simple 6M measurement offset to get back to the original set
out, and reinstate the original profiles, rather than starting from scratch again,
squaring etc.

REFERENCES

 http://www.servicemagic.com/article.show

 www.wikipedia.org/wiki/drainage system

 http://www.brettmartin.com/building/underground/index.aspx

 www.wickes.co.uk/content/ebiz/wickes/resources/images
  www.fascias.com/Drainage Waste and Soil Pipes

CONCLUSION

In the end ;
 We know what the meaning of drainage system.
 We learn types of underground drainage system.
 Setting out at the site is important.