How to . . . set out a building

For this job, you will need:

50mm x 50mm x 600mm stakes
50mm x 25mm battening
65mm lost head nails
2 x 30M tapes
A 3M steel tape
A ball of white string or string line
A bag of lime
A club hammer
A claw hammer
A saw
A calculator
A pencil
The Building Plan


STRIP any vegetation away from the site of the proposed building. Study the plans for fixed points from which you can measure, such as the boundary. Measure the distance on the plan to these fixed points and put up a string line between two stakes set beyond the proposed building. Using the external dimensions of the proposed structure, put a stake in at the first corner of the building and tack a nail in the top, leaving it proud by about 25mm. Hook one of the long tapes on to that nail and measure out the length of the first wall along the string line to a second stake.

Bang it in, checking it for position and upright as you go. Carefully measure and put a proud nail in the top. Many builders use a 3:4:5 triangulation to set right angles. This is notoriously inaccurate over distance and it is better to triangulate using Pythagorean theorem. Multiply the length of each of the two outside walls by themselves and add the two answers together. The square root of the addition is the length of their diagonal.

Hook a tape on each of the two stakes and holding them both, one to measure the diagonal and one to measure the next outside wall measurement, position the third stake. Bang this in and then carefully measure with each of the tapes to position the nail in the top.
Repeat the process for the fourth stake to form the square or rectangle and then check that the resultant distance between the third and fourth stake is correct. Complex shapes should be broken down into handy rectangles or squares.

Stretch a string line around the nails to mark the shape of the building. This needs to be transposed to profiles. Sight down each line and firmly bang in two stakes about 450mm apart so as to straddle any continuation of the line beyond the working area. Fix a 600mm length of batten across the top of the pair.

Repeat this at both ends of every line. Hook a string line on the first corner's nail and take it beyond the second corner to the profile. Pull tight and sight down it until it crosses the second nail. Mark the profile with a nail where the line crosses it. Repeat this for every profile. Internal foundation walls can be marked by measurement from the external string lines and profiles put up, if necessary.

To find centre dig, measure half the thickness of the proposed wall along the profile (moving inwards) and mark with a nail. Put the lines to centre dig and using an upright spirit level and a straight edge, mark the ground with lime for the digger to work to.

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