Blueprint Reading for the Building Trades
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1 Building Construction Documents

Objectives

The fundamental objective of this chapter is to give the reader an overall picture of the building construction industry and its relationship to construction documents. Familiarity with this relationship is considered necessary to give the reader a proper background for approaching the subject of blueprint reading.

The Construction of a Building

In all large construction projects, and in most of the smaller ones also, an architect is commissioned to prepare complete working drawings and specifications for the project. These drawings usually include:

1. A plot plan indicating the location of the building on the property, as shown in Fig. 1-1.

2. Floor plans showing the walls and partitions for each floor or level, as shown in Fig. 1-2.

3. Elevations of all exterior faces of the building, as shown in Fig. 1-3.

4. A number of vertical cross sections to indicate clearly the various floor levels and details of the footings, foundation, walls, floors, ceilings, and roof construction.

5. Large-scale detail drawings showing such details of construction as may be required.

For projects of any consequence, the architect usually hires consulting engineers to prepare structural, electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning drawings. A brief description of such drawings follows.

Structural Drawings: A typical structural drawing is shown in Fig. 1-4. Such drawings are most often prepared by structural engineers on the basis of proper allowances for all vertical loads and lateral stresses and are included with the architectural drawings for all long-span, wood-truss construction and all reinforced concrete and structural steel construction.

Electrical Drawings: The electrical drawings for a building project generally cover the complete electrical design of the electrical system for lighting, power, alarm and communication systems, special electrical systems, and related electrical equipment. These drawings some- times include a plot plan or site plan showing the location of the building on the property and the interconnecting electrical systems; floor plans showing the location of all outlets, lighting fixtures, panelboards, and other components and equipment; power-riser diagrams; a symbol list; schematic diagrams; and large-scale details where necessary.

Mechanical Drawings: Mechanical drawings cover the installation of the plumbing, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems within a building and on the premises. They cover the complete design and layout of these systems and show floor-plan layouts, cross sections of the building, and necessary detailed drawings. Control wiring for various heating and air-conditioning controls may also be included on the mechanical drawings.

A typical electrical drawing is shown in Fig. 1-5, a plumbing drawing is shown in Fig. 1-6, and a typical air-conditioning drawing is illustrated in Fig. 1-7. The reader is not expected to understand every detail of these drawings at this time. However, the reader should re- view these drawings, noting every detail, to get an overall picture of the various types of construction drawings in use. Then, subsequent chapters will tend to clear up any hazy areas as the reader progresses.

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