Initial Setting Out.

They built the pyramids the right size and shape with pegs and string.

But did they get them in precisely the correct place?

If your new home needs to be precisely positioned so you get your car down the drive one side and your wheelbarrow down the other, then you need to think how you get the basement positioned just as accurately when you are down a big, muddy hole, you can't see the neighbours's buildings very well, the wind is blowing your string miles above you out of place ......

Believe me. With pegs and string getting a basement positioned precisely down a hole can be difficult.

Months later with the new house structure complete it is easy to see if it is wrong.

But sliding around in mud unsighted from anything solid, it can be very difficult indeed down your excavation.

Much better to use a surveying instrument to record where your old building is before it is knocked down and for the surveying instrument to return to site to set out that position again, or the new position required, accurately down your hole.

Beware of GPS surveying instruments. They can fail if there are trees.

I have my own reflectorless total station surveying instrument. This means it can measure the distance to where I point my telescope, such as a wall corner, and immediately calculate the horizontal distance from the slope distance and vertical angle.

If you are already my client paying for my advice by email, we can do a deal for me to record salient points before you knock them down and other salient points that will remain. This will be enough to return later and mark out your new building from coordinates or dimensions provided by your architect.

Or perhaps your architect already got you to commission a land survey. Ask the surveyors if they would be able to set out your basement down an excavation. They probably can. Ask how much for each visit and how many visits they anticipate.

Back to the Basement Building Questions Answered menu.

Back to the Basement Building Construction Manual menu.

For a fixed fee of £199 I will answer all your questions by email. More details here.

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