Grading Idiot's or Dummy's guide to surveying & grading.

[flusher]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

Use a water level and 24" surveyors stakes. Simple to use and cheap.
I have the one made by Zircon. Costs about $25 at Home Depot, etc.
One man operation, accurate to about 1/2 inch over the area the size of a tennis court.

 

[gordon21]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

I forgot to mention that in my original post. Others pointed it out. The water level method is a one man method. Every other type of measuring requires two people to either hold something or be there. This may or may not be a factor for you. If you don't have a helper, then renting a transit or other items is a moot point.

 

[zeuspaul]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

First you need to balance the cuts and the fills. You can use one of the methods mentioned to make the measurements. The string and string level will work.

Set a refernce grade stake outside the area you want to work. Then set another one outside the area you want to grade at the other end and at the same elevation as the first one. You can use the string level to do this. There will be a lot of sag in the string even if it is taught. Pull the string taught and place the string level in the center so the sag won't affect the measurement.

You may want to set three *lines* or pairs of stakes.

Now make some grade checking sticks. Use a four foot piece of lath or something similar. Nail a 12 in +/-cross piece towards the top (down about 9 in from the top) The stick will look like a cross. Make two of these exactly the same.

Make a third stick that's just a stick with two rulers on the top. The numbers start at zero and zero is the same height as the top of the cross piece on the crosses. One set of numbers increases upwards and the other downwards. You can draw the marks on the stick with a felt tip marker.

You need three people to make the measurements. One guy holds a cross on one of the grade stakes. Another is somewhere between the two grade stakes with the non-cross stick. The third is with a cross on the opposite grade stake. One of the guys with the cross sights the other cross over the top of his cross and reads the stick in the middle to see if and how much the grade is off.

Assume the top of the grade stakes to be elevation ten. Determine the existing grade at numerous locations in an equally spaced grid...every ten or twenty feet in each direction...depends on how much the grade varies.

Average all of the numbers and that is the value for the final grade...a balanced cut and fill so you won't have to bring in or remove dirt.

Set a bunch of grade stakes to the final grade using the grade sticks and start moving dirt.

Zeuspaul

 

[Builder]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I forgot to mention that in my original post. Others pointed it out. The water level method is a one man method. Every other type of measuring requires two people to either hold something or be there. This may or may not be a factor for you. If you don't have a helper, then renting a transit or other items is a moot point. )</font>

Actually, you can survey all day long with a transit by yourself. All you have to do is build a story pole. You get a nice straight, smooth 2x4 and lay a tape measure on it marking one inch increments from bottom to top. Then saw 3/4" off the bottom. Then nail a 2' x 2' piece of 3/4" plywood to the bottom so it can stand up on its' own.

I've laid out entire roads & homes this way for years.

Now I also use a laser transit (can be rented cheaply) with a story rod & sensor. That makes it really easy for one man to do.

 

[gordon21]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

That's a good method for a rural area. I never considered that. Here in Florida, most of the benchmarks are in the centers of busy highways and doing it by yourself would be a task. By the time you could go from the transit to the self supporting pole, it would have been knocked over by traffic. Surveyors here wear orange vests and put numerous traffic cones around themselves and it is still a dangerous occupation. And of course that assumes the transit is still there when you get to the pole. A modern GPS transit left unattended probably has a life span of about 43 seconds in south Florida.

 

[Builder]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

Well of course. I was referring to laying out sites for building private homes, foundations, subdivision roads, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc..

Never said anything about a transit & story pole being able to lay out the next 8 lane interstate highway. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Neither did the thread starter. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dubba]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( A modern GPS transit left unattended probably has a life span of about 43 seconds in south Florida. )</font>

Sounds like you might need to spend a few hours down at the local range with your 30-06 /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[davidseaquist]

Re: Idiot\'s or Dummy\'s guide to surveying & grading.

I sure like your beer story, my beverage of choice ! water level in a glass. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif David.