Read basic civil engineering drawings

When you have a technical drawing, you will not miss out any details!

In civil engineering drawing, the basic concepts you need to take note are;

1) Type of engineering plans

The common plans are;

i) Location plan which indicates the construction area and its surroundings

ii) Block plan, plot plan or site plan indicates details about the construction area such as building footprint, driveways, elevations, staging area (storage area) and more.

iii) Foundation plan indicates the key dimensions for critical structural supports, pillars or columns at the ground level (lowest part of the building)

iv) Framing plans indicates how each structural frames are connected to form flooring, ceiling or roofing depending on the purpose of the drawing

v) Elevation drawings indicates primarily on the vertical height  dimension for railings, windows, doors, furnitures and more. Depending on requirement, length and width may be provided

vi) Floor plan indicates primarily on the horizontal length and breadth dimensions. This includes the location and  size of a room, path of a door, staircase, elevator, travelator and more

vii) Electrical plan indicates how the electrical components are connected

2) Mentality when approaching a drawing 

i) Engineering drawing often comes as a set or as multiple sheets to provide a "holistic perspective" of the construction. They are top-down. In civil engineering, it starts from Location plan to Site plan (or Block plan) to other plans such as floor plan, foundation plan, and more

ii) You should be able to identify the scale of a drawing to ensure measurements follows the engineering drawings

iii) It is important you identified the meanings behind abbreivations, views, alphabetic symbol, numeric symbol, shapes of symbol and more

iv) You should be able to identify the datum or reference point of the drawing to ensure dimensions during the process is kept to a standard

v) You should be well aware of the constaints in dimension especially when transporting large items. This is important on a logistical planning perspective

vi) There may be times when the drawing did not foresee certain problems on the ground and it is important to verify and ensure the drawing is rectified and certified before proceeding. This is important especially in important areas.

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