Construction Surveying & Layout Overview
You'll learn how to make a survey for any residential or commercial lot, driveway, road, or bridge – including how to figure cuts and fills and calculate excavation quantities. Use this guide to make your own surveys, or just read and verify the accuracy of surveys made by others.
Back Cover
Every construction project requires leveling,
measuring, layout, surveying and setting grade. But until now there was no
practical manual for builders that explained construction surveying in simple
language. This handy reference was written to help builders, contractors and
developers understand this important subject so they can handle more of their
own survey and layout work.
If you've been paying professional surveyors to
make simple surveys, guessing about boundaries, or have had trouble making
accurate layouts, this valuable reference will save you time and money - and
help avoid expensive mistakes. It explains all the surveying a construction
contractor is likely to need: How land is divided, how to use a transit and tape
to find a known point, lay out an angle, curve, circle, perpendicular or
parallel lines; how to draw an accurate survey map from your field notes; how to
use topographic surveys; the right way to level and set grade; how to align
foundations, walls and floors; how to find or check lot corners. It shows how to
make a survey for any residential or commercial lot, driveway, road, or bridge -
including how to figure cuts and fills and calculate excavation quantities.
Whether you want to make your own layouts and
surveys or just read, understand and verify the accuracy of surveys made by
others, you should have this practical guide.
Paul Stull, Ph.D, P.E., P.S., is a
consulting engineer and land surveyor with over forty years of experience in the
construction industry. He's laid out hundreds of subdivisions, roads, bridges,
sewer lines, industrial plants and property lines and for eight years taught
surveying to tradesmen in Jackson, Ohio. He's active in the Ohio Society of
Professional Engineers and Surveyors and has served as chair of the
administrative, educational and legislative committees for that organization.
Construction Surveying & Layout
Introduction
Preface
Your
community library probably has several books on surveying. Many have been
written. But nearly all are technical and detailed, offering far more theory and
much greater depth than builders and contractors need. That's too bad, because
most builders and many tradesmen need a working knowledge of basic survey
principles.
On every
job someone has to find or verify the location of lot corners, align foundation,
walls and floors, lay out perpendicular and parallel lines, mark angles, set
grade or calculate cut and fill quantities. Professional surveyors can do this
work, of course. But you don't need to hire a professional to check a boundary
line or lay out a driveway. After reading this manual, I think you'll agree that
most of the survey and layout work on a construction site is relatively easy.
Anyone with the desire and time available can master the skills required.
This
manual should meet your needs precisely if you want to learn construction
surveying and layout, but don't have the patience to wade through a detailed,
theoretical surveying text. I'll emphasize the practical rather than the
theoretical and focus on the type of survey and layout problems you're likely to
face on your next job.
If
knowing how to make a simple survey will help in your construction work, you're
reading the right book. I'll cover all the practical surveying and layout you're
likely to need for any construction project. If you're concerned that your math
skills may not meet the challenge presented by the more complex survey problems,
don't worry. I've simplified the trigonometry, geometry and mathematics
throughout this volume. If you come to a symbol or calculation you don't
understand, a little study of the appendix should clarify the point. Appendix B
summarizes all the geometry you need to know and Appendix C explains the
essentials of trigonometry.
Before
we get into the first chapter, let me emphasize how important good survey
practice is in construction. We've all heard sad stories about homes, apartments
or garages that have been built on the wrong lot or straddling a property line.
Fortunately, that's not a common error. But it's nearly always a very expensive
mistake. Much more usual are foundations that aren't level, slab corners that
aren't square, circles that are more like ellipses and ellipses that aren't like
anything at all. These all begin with survey mistakes. But that's just the
beginning. Anything that's not level, square and true in construction tends to
affect every part of the job that follows. You begin with a foundation wall that
isn't square at a corner and end up with roof sheathing panels that don't fit
right.
The
surveyor on the job has the first chance to make a mistake. If he (or she) does
it right, the first error has to be made by someone else. Survey and layout that
are done with care and professionalism promote craftsmanship throughout the
project. What's the best way to be sure the survey and layout are done right?
It's to do it yourself, or at least check it yourself. Maybe that's why some of
the best, most successful contractors and builders I know have taken the time
and trouble to learn construction surveying and layout.
Having
said that, it's time to get down to business. We'll begin Chapter 1 by
introducing land survey terms and concepts. By the time you've worked your way
through this manual to the end of Chapter 15, I think you'll agree that
construction surveying doesn't have to be difficult. There's nothing technical
or theoretical here, but there's a lot to remember. Between Chapter 1 and
Chapter 15 I'll explain it all, easily remembered.
Chapter One
Introduction
to Land Surveying
Land
surveying allows a surveyor to precisely determine the area of any part of the
earth's surface, the lengths and bearings (direction) of all the boundary lines,
the contours of features of the land, and to accurately describe all of this
information on a map.
A
knowledge of surveying is indispensable if you are a builder, contractor, or
developer. Not only will you often need to hire surveyors, check their findings,
and read survey data and maps, occasionally you may be both the builder and the
surveyor on a project. There's certainly no better way to find out about every
aspect of the site you're developing.
This
book describes the mathematics behind surveying, the instruments used to take
measurements, the method for surveying a site, and the procedure for drawing
accurate maps. You'll learn how to take complex
measurements for roads, buildings, and bridges; how to establish grades for
areas of cut and fill; and how to solve problems that may occur during a survey.
The first thing you'll find out is how surveys actually started in the United
States.
The History of U.S. Land
Surveys
Land
surveys made by government authority follow a definite system provided by law.
These are United States Land Surveys. They began on May 18, 1775, when the
Continental Congress called for a method of measuring and disposing of some
lands claimed by the state of Virginia, which at that time included areas of
West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
The Rectangular System
Accordingly,
the Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United
States was developed. It describes the conditions of the rectangular
system of surveys that is required for U.S. land surveys.
Longitude
and Latitude
The rectangular system uses the longitude and latitude lines of the earth
as its base. The longitude lines, called meridians, run north and south
from pole to pole and at 90º to the equator.
Latitude
lines, called parallels of latitude, run east and west around the earth
parallel to the equator. The equator is 0º. Parallels of latitude are 90º
north of the equator (north latitude) and 90º south of the equator (south
latitude). Longitude and latitude are stated in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
Initial
Points
Under this system the initial point of a survey is referenced by
longitude and latitude by astronomical methods, and marked
accurately, called monumenting. This is done so that it's easy to
identify exactly where the survey was started and, thus, exactly which piece of
land is being described.
Initial
points were established throughout the public domain by monumented meridian
lines and baselines. Each meridian is identified by a name and number. These are
listed in the manual of instructions.
All
of the lines in the rectangular system are tied into or extended from these
principal meridians and the baselines. They are identified as guide meridians
and standard parallels, township exteriors, section lines, and meander lines
(established by the water line of a lake or stream). In
recent
years, county officials have required that surveys be referenced to the legal
comers of townships, and bearings and distances given in the deed (legal
description) such that the surveyed area be satisfactorily closed by one of
several methods ( which will be explained later).
Land
Divisions The
rectangular system was first used to survey Ohio. It
began
at the point where the Ohio River leaves Pennsylvania.
The
public lands are divided into counties. Counties are divided into townships.
Townships (6 miles square) are divided into 36 sections (1 mile square).
Sections are divided further into quarter sections.
And,
quarter sections are divided into quarter-quarter sections (see Figure 1-1). As
always, there are a few exceptions to the rules. For instance, in Louisiana the
word parish is used instead of county. And, sometimes townships
aren't divided into exactly 36 sections.
A
county contains townships, and a north-south row of townships constitute a range
of townships. An east-west row of townships constitute a tier of
townships. Figure 1- 2 shows the arrangement of the 36 sections in a
township.
Figure
1-3 illustrates the political subdivision of land. The township boundaries
running north and south, as ab, are intended to be true meridians and are
called meridional boundaries. A series of townships in a north-and-south
row constitute a range of townships. Therefore,
the meridional boundaries are commonly known as range lines .
Townships
are numbered as ranges in both east and west directions. Here they run west from
the principal meridian, hence the letter W. Townships also are numbered as tiers
both north and south, beginning with number one at the baseline.
You can
see that Jackson Town-ship
in the northwest corner is in Range 19 West (R-19-W), and in Townships (tier)
North (T-7-N).
Look
north to south along the west county line. You’ll see an example of mixed
section numbering shown along the Jackson and Liberty townships. In Jackson
Township, section 19 has a section 20 on either side of it. Section 30 has a
section 31 on either side of it. This seemingly odd-numbered section is due to a
land trade made with Pike County many years ago. You'll find this jumbled
numbering in many places. There are localities in Ohio where the range lines run
east and west and the township tiers run north and south. And, some townships
there contain 25 sections instead of 36 sections. So, when you're researching
area records, look out for the unusual.
Land
Deeds
This
rectangular system of surveying with official requirements was created because
surveys are used as the basis for the land descriptions used in deeds. A deed
is a legal document describing a certain piece of land that you own. So, if
everyone used a different method of surveying for describing that land, no one
would be sure who owned what.
Deeds
describe the initial point of the survey and use bearings to describe the
boundaries of the land in question. Figure 1-4 shows how a survey plane is
divided into four quadrants, each 90º. The bearing is then referenced for every
case, from the north-south line. For instance, bearing N30ºE runs north by east
30º from the north-south line and bearing S30ºW runs south by west 30º from
the north-south line.
Suppose
that you are about to buy a piece of land in the northwest area of the south
half of the township shown in Figure 1-3, which is in Range 19 West of Jackson
Township. You and the owner have visited or driven around the area you plan to
buy. You then hire a surveyor to describe the boundaries of that piece of land.
Your deed to the land will be written from the description made by the surveyor.
Since
this parcel of land is in the northwest quarter (NW 1/4) of the southwest
quarter (SW 1/4), the introductory paragraph of your land deed will read:
Being
a parcel of land in the NW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Jackson Township, Jackson
County, Ohio, R-19-W, T-8-N.
You
can see the T-8-N (Township Eight north) on the south line of the township. This
is an accurate legal description, written from a correct survey, that identifies
this parcel of land from any other parcel anywhere on earth (See Figure 1-1).
To
make it even better identified, the survey is tied to an initial, permanent
point (described previously). In this case, the legal comer (any comer of a
political subdivision) provided by the northwest comer of the NW 1/4 of the SW
1/4 of Jackson Township, is a perfect reference
point for the survey of your land. Therefore, the legal description following
the introductory paragraph in your deed reads as follows.
Beginning,
for reference, on a stone at the NE comer of the NW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of
Jackson Township,
Thence
500 feet due south along the east line of said 1/4-1/4 to a point in said
line;
thence
356 feet due west to an existing fence comer, said comer being the place of
beginning for this survey.
thence
N84º23'W along a fence line a distance of 165 feet to a point in said fence
line;
thence
S5º19'25.51";W a distance of 276.66 feet to a point in an open field;
thence
S84º23'E a distance of 165 feet to a point in an open field;
thence
N5º19'25.51";E a distance of 276.66 feet to a point, said point being the
fence comer at the place of beginning for this survey, said survey containing
1.05 acres, more or less.
Notice
that in descriptions of a survey bearing, the words north, south, east, and
west, are not used alone. For instance, the bearing on the east line of the
1/4-1/4 (Figure 1-5), is described as being "due north." This is the
back bearing for the bearing given as "due south" in the deed
description. Always use the word "due" with the cardinal direction.
Now you
know how surveys began and how they are used to write deeds. The next step is to
find out how to do a survey using the instruments and methods described in the
following chapters.
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