The lot
Hold points on this house
What the survey has to settle
The house has to sit on a known piece of ground. A survey locates the property lines and the grades. When the site needs it, a soils report says what the ground can carry and where water sits. This drawing is not a survey and not a soils report. It only shows the footprint of this house and its garage.
Arrow keys turn the house. Plus and minus, or the zoom buttons, change the zoom. A horizontal drag turns it after you tap the drawing. Reset view returns to the step camera.
The drawing needs WebGL. The written steps below still stand.
The nineteen steps, in words
01 What the survey has to settle
The house has to sit on a known piece of ground. A survey locates the property lines and the grades. When the site needs it, a soils report says what the ground can carry and where water sits. This drawing is not a survey and not a soils report. It only shows the footprint of this house and its garage.
02 Corners that survive the dig
The corners of the house and the garage are marked on the ground from the survey, with offsets so the marks survive the digging. On these plan sheets the main wing is about 45 feet and the garage is about 22 feet. Those figures are not a substitute for stakes on a real lot.
03 Trees and topsoil
Trees, shrubs, and paving that stay are fenced before machines arrive. Topsoil can be stripped and saved for planting beds. It is a poor material under a footing. The sketch keeps the paths and the planted strip beside the garage so the finished ground has something to aim at.
04 The hole for a slab house
Before anyone enters an excavation, a competent person evaluates the soil, water, adjacent loads, and required protective system. Protection can be needed in shallow cuts as well as deep ones. Dewatering and safe access are planned as part of that work. On a slope, soil is cut from the high side. Fill under a footing has to be proper material, placed in layers and compacted. This model shows the pad, not the hole.
05 Concrete that spreads the walls
Footings are the wide concrete bases that spread wall and post loads into the soil. A continuous footing follows a bearing wall. A pad footing sits under a post, such as a porch post. On this slab house the walls that rise off those footings are short stem walls, not a basement. Width and thickness come from the load and the soil. This sketch does not calculate them.
06 Drains the slab will bury
Drains that run under the floor go in before the concrete. A trap needs a vent, and an under-slab drain cannot be moved after the pour. Stone under the slab breaks the path of moisture rising from the ground, and a vapor retarder goes on that stone. The sketch names the idea. It does not route a pipe.
07 The floor you walk on
The slab is poured on that prepared base. In this model the floor line is the top of that work. A treated sill, or the wall plates themselves, is anchored to the concrete so the wood frame starts off the soil. A crawl-space house would build a wood platform here instead. This house is drawn on a slab.
08 Water at the outside of the concrete
Concrete against soil needs a way for water to leave. A dampproof coating suits a wall that is drained. A waterproof membrane is for water that can press on the wall. A perforated drain at the footing, set in clean stone and outside the footing, leads water to daylight or a sump. The sketch does not draw the pipe.
09 Soil back, sloping away
Soil goes back against the foundation only after the wall can take the pressure and the drain is in place. It is placed in layers. The rough grade slopes away so rain does not stand at the wall. Planting waits until the heavy work is done.
10 The first story of studs
Exterior walls are framed on the slab: bottom plate, studs, headers over openings, and top plates. The garage door and the wide windows need headers because studs are missing there. Partitions that only divide rooms are not the load path in this sketch. Nothing here sizes a header.
11 The bedroom floor and the stair hole
The upper floor is another platform on the walls below, then the upper walls. The stair opening is framed before that deck is closed. On this house the upper floor holds the primary bedroom, two other bedrooms, baths, and the laundry. The balcony is an outdoor piece of that floor, and it needs a guard.
12 Gable, hip, and the lower roofs
Site-built rafters are assembled on site. A conventional ridge-board roof uses ties to resist outward thrust; a designed structural ridge-beam roof uses a different support arrangement. This house has a gable on the east, a hip toward the balcony, a dormer on the front slope, and lower roofs on the garage and the porch. The drawing shows those planes. It is not a truss design.
13 Brace it before it is covered
Before the walls are covered, the frame that resists wind and earthquakes has to be in place: structural sheathing, the nailing the design calls for, and hold-downs where the shear walls end. A framing inspection looks at that work while it is still visible. This sketch highlights the walls. It does not give a nailing schedule.
14 A roof that sheds
The frame is dried in when the roof sheds water and the openings are covered: sheathing, underlayment, and a cover at the windows and doors. Siding can wait. In a wet climate an open roof is the emergency, so this comes before interior finishes. At this step the roof planes are on and the siding strokes are still off.
15 Open walls for the trades
With the shell closed to weather, plumbing, heating, and electrical lines run in the open walls and floors. Drains, vents, and ducts have to miss the joists where the structure needs the wood. The baths, kitchen, and laundry are the rooms that need water. The sketch does not route a pipe.
16 The energy check
Insulation slows heat moving through the assembly. Sealing stops the leaks that carry both heat and moisture. Gaps at plates, windows, and penetrations are closed, then the cavities are filled. An energy inspection looks at that work before it is covered. In a marine climate the wall also has to be able to dry. The sketch shows the open frame, not a product.
17 The rain coat
Direct-applied siding still relies on a properly integrated water-resistive barrier and flashing behind it. A separate drainage gap can improve drainage and drying. Whether that gap is required depends on the cladding, assembly, manufacturer's instructions, and applicable code. On this house the east gable reads as board-and-batten and the other walls as horizontal courses.
18 Rooms you can live in
Interior board closes the walls. Joints are finished, then the rooms are painted, floored, and fitted. Cabinets and fixtures come after the surfaces they sit on. The plan shows how this house is divided. It does not name a finish.
19 Gutters and the final walk
The ground is finished so water leaves the house: slope, gutters, downspouts that discharge away from the wall, and planting that does not hold water at the siding. Walks and the patio are set to those elevations. The final walk checks that the house matches the approved work. The model returns to the whole house.
Explore the finished house · Why this, not that · Weatherproof-first, when a roof is opened