Do you need to add storm utilities still? Also, waterlines usually have separation requirements to sanitary sewer (sometimes storm too). Where I live, horizontal separation between water and sewer is 10’ from outer edges of the pipes, and water has to be 12” (maybe 18”?) higher at any crossings (can be closer if sleeves and/or CDF is used as extra protection from contamination). I think you can get away with it on a private single-family residence, but it’s still good practice to separate them; check to see if there are requirements from the local health district and municipality.
Thanks, this is a very old and rural plot, so standards were very relaxed and most of the existing structures and utilities were put in place before you had a 'building control' or needed planning approval to start developing. The idea was to accurately map existing features, prepare a reference dxl/csv for potential future activities on the plot (demolition, extensions or new developments)
Sewer - Sewer lines shouldn’t have hard turns like that. It’s asking for a clogging problem. It’s fine for water and power but not sewer. Yes you’re showing small sweeps but it’s still problematic. Basically you should avoid 90 degree turns in sewer at all costs even with sweeps. Smaller turns (elbows) such as 45 degrees are fine, but usually there’s a clean out at this location. If a 90 degree turn is required usually we’d add a manhole, but as this is private property I’d use (2) 45 elbows spaced apart with at least one clean out.
- Delete the jug to hug the northwest of the 213sqm house and I would run two 45s and add a clean out at the corner. (If you’re not showing clean outs at this level of design that’s fine)
- Delete the jog on the north side of the 213sqm house west of the septic and route it diagonal from manhole to the septic.
- Also, why is one septic tank feeding into another septic tank?
- You’re showing septic tanks, but the end of the line is not showing a drainfield. Where are your septic tanks draining to?
Power - Parallel buried power conduits are typically installed in the same trench with very little separation.
- Show the power lines from 49 and 63 houses to be parallel with uniform offset until it gets to 213 house.
Water - I’m not sure about the codes in your area, but there may be a requirement to separate water and sewer. Where I live code it says you need to have a 10 foot horizontal separation. Some of your lines look pretty close together. Don’t worry about perpendicular crossings though at this design level.
I’d show easements, they’re calso move my onsite infrastructure away from from where PUE’s probably exist.
I’d also show the driveway, leech field, phone, CATV and building uses.
Shading back the stuff to be decommissioned would be a good idea too. I’d show the leech field and fate for the septic to be decommissioned as well.
Web Mercator projection is just about everywhere because it’s great for web mapping but is a big no at the site scale . Those words are a big red flag for something showing dimensions. Recommend change to a regional projected coordinate system and doublecheck your areas / distances. Even UTM would be a big improvement, for site work I’d use something more local but it might take you some work to track that down if you’re not familiar. In the US I’m talking about state plane or county systems but I assume you are somewhere else (meters)
https://gisgeography.com/web-mercator-projection/
Obviously I’m a GIS nerd, I’ll add that the only reason I noticed is because you bothered to list the projection which is important but often skipped. So good work on that. That being said I almost never see all the details of the projection (like false easting) listed on a figure, you can just provide the name and for bonus points the projection id (epsg, or esri #).
This issue with web Mercator comes up frequently because often the first thing people add to a figure is a streaming basemap and the project adopts that coordinate system. It really does cause errors in measurements though.
Maybe add lot pins. Scale in=ft. Show north arrows on little maps on the right. Parcels lots. Usually you don’t do colors on the platsheets, line weights, types and transparency is what you use. Add a sheet number on the bottom [Sheet 1 of 3]. Show areas in AC. Bldg areas in sq ft.
Here's some recommendations:
Sheet 1 - existing conditions
Sheet 2 - proposed conditions
I always like having structure and pipe tables (for larger projects).
I'm assuming you're not using CAD or Civil 3D.
Sheet 1: locality plan with block highlighted, legend, and drawing list
Sheet 2: existing services drawing
Sheet 3: proposed services drawing
Exisiting services example; water eW (add diameters on each run), proposed water W (in a thicker pen)
The stated scale only works for a specific page size. I would add a reference to whatever page size it's expected to be printed at (e.g. 1 cm = 1 meter @ A3). Unless I've missed that somewhere, apologies if so. Alternatively, you could use a scale bar.
Also, not sure if it's really needed for standalone drainage systems, but they typically have inverts (elevations) recorded at the beginning/end of pipe segments (manholes typically).
Got it, these are existing services so they didn't make provisions for telecomms but I think I'll regularize the plot to follow current standards as an exercise, i.e space utilities, add manholes to the drawing as advised in this thread, thanks
It seems like everyone has given you good advice. I'll add from a plan presentation perspective, be consistent with your labeling. He an example of grading and utility plan from a project from a few years ago. [Example Plan](https://imgur.com/a/jtsWEWo)
Pipes and cables usually have manholes or draw pits at every change in direction. So your drawing seems to lack manholes and drawpits. These are usually numbered aswell like MH01, MH02 and have cover level and invert level. And usually have a separate supporting document called manhole cards with more detailed info
Huh, metric uses "sqm" just like we use "sq ft" in the US. I don't know why both of those don't just use a superscript 2, looks better imo. But I never see superscripts on plans.
We use m² and m³ in the UK unless I'm having a really bad day and can't find the ² symbol in autocad idk what the standard is elsewhere I swear I saw some German drawings with m² on them too tho
Less bends in sewer line. Add dimensions or notes with the minimum separation distance between water and sewer lines, a scale near the north arrow. Looks great!
Unless the formatting you’re using is a requirement I think you could abbreviate alittle more and also almost all design drawings I’ve worked with (in the US) has all capitalized text.
Examples:
120V OVERHEAD PWRLINE - 120V OHE
B. PWRCABLE - UGE
B. WTRLINE - (size) WL
B. SEWAGE - (size) WW or SS
Those seem like long runs without inspection chambers, check what your local standards are for that invert levels are useful at chambers too. A page size next to your scale is needed too do they typically show scales like that in your country? In the UK we would just show that as 1:100 @ a3. It seems a pretty decent drawing though especially for an undergrad nice one.
I would add flow arrows, maybe locate the public water main (assuming that’s the water source), capitalize all text, use line types with W, S, and E within them to show as water sewer, electric, etc. Those are more formatting as opposed to design but just some extra things to help drawings look clean
Maybe slopes too? I work in land development and we usually have pipe material, depths, slopes, diameters, lengths, and any clean outs/man holes/ connections on our plans
Not mandatory but something to keep in mind: We rarely print in color, even if you do it’s important to print it in grey scale to see if the colored lines remain distinguishable when gray. We distinguish lines types with weight, dashes, symboled dashes, and gray scale. I think it’s almost inevitable for a drawing to become gray scale or black at some point in its life cycle.
Add nearby water main valves, manholes which should be adjacent to the buildings and add the lateral ties from buildings.
As much as details are the best for construction engineers and inspectors bcuz its makes our lives much easier.
Proposed pipe elevations, i.e. invert elevations with respect to finished grades or surfaces. Might want to add a profile for each pipe; conflicts; points-of-connection; and details...trench detail, depth of over-excavation, pipe bedding depths and materials.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,334,642,096 comments, and only 257,049 of them were in alphabetical order.
Leaders are atrocious, try mleaders. Another thing that seems to be missed is that there isnt really a titleblock - drg number, date, scale, drawn by, etc. Basic stuff but required for all documents
Maybe a couple tiny north arrows in the locus maps on the right. They don't seem to be the same orientation as the map.
General notes describing data collection methods, qualifying statements, call before you dig(don't know if you have that where you're at). ASCE has SUE levels that describe what lengths you went to to gather this data.
Will add a legend later, wasn't sure what to put there. I don't have info on pipe widths or material (I could take a guess but I don't want to be wrong)
My first thought is are you a land surveyor? Did you survey those dimensions showing the boundary? We’re I live, it’s illegal for anyone but a surveyor to make claims on where property boundaries are. By putting those dimensions you expose your self to liability when they are proven to be inaccurate. Just my opinion.
I shot the boundaries and swept the features on site as an exercise so this is not an official document for submission and won't influence any activities on site (but could act as a visual reference), the owners still have to get a proper survey done.
There’s literally a law suit in court here in the states, California on this exact issue. Where a tech startup is dropping property boundaries on an aerial topo map. From Google imagery.
“Act as a visual reference “ equals evidence in a law suit. Do your self a favor and at least put a statement that these boundaries are not defined by a land surveying professional and a survey is needed for the precise location of property corners and therefore measured distances.
A scale, I’d put it next to the north arrow
Do you need to add storm utilities still? Also, waterlines usually have separation requirements to sanitary sewer (sometimes storm too). Where I live, horizontal separation between water and sewer is 10’ from outer edges of the pipes, and water has to be 12” (maybe 18”?) higher at any crossings (can be closer if sleeves and/or CDF is used as extra protection from contamination). I think you can get away with it on a private single-family residence, but it’s still good practice to separate them; check to see if there are requirements from the local health district and municipality.
Thanks, this is a very old and rural plot, so standards were very relaxed and most of the existing structures and utilities were put in place before you had a 'building control' or needed planning approval to start developing. The idea was to accurately map existing features, prepare a reference dxl/csv for potential future activities on the plot (demolition, extensions or new developments)
Sewer - Sewer lines shouldn’t have hard turns like that. It’s asking for a clogging problem. It’s fine for water and power but not sewer. Yes you’re showing small sweeps but it’s still problematic. Basically you should avoid 90 degree turns in sewer at all costs even with sweeps. Smaller turns (elbows) such as 45 degrees are fine, but usually there’s a clean out at this location. If a 90 degree turn is required usually we’d add a manhole, but as this is private property I’d use (2) 45 elbows spaced apart with at least one clean out. - Delete the jug to hug the northwest of the 213sqm house and I would run two 45s and add a clean out at the corner. (If you’re not showing clean outs at this level of design that’s fine) - Delete the jog on the north side of the 213sqm house west of the septic and route it diagonal from manhole to the septic. - Also, why is one septic tank feeding into another septic tank? - You’re showing septic tanks, but the end of the line is not showing a drainfield. Where are your septic tanks draining to? Power - Parallel buried power conduits are typically installed in the same trench with very little separation. - Show the power lines from 49 and 63 houses to be parallel with uniform offset until it gets to 213 house. Water - I’m not sure about the codes in your area, but there may be a requirement to separate water and sewer. Where I live code it says you need to have a 10 foot horizontal separation. Some of your lines look pretty close together. Don’t worry about perpendicular crossings though at this design level.
I’d show easements, they’re calso move my onsite infrastructure away from from where PUE’s probably exist. I’d also show the driveway, leech field, phone, CATV and building uses. Shading back the stuff to be decommissioned would be a good idea too. I’d show the leech field and fate for the septic to be decommissioned as well.
Shade the decommissioned stuff and differentiate them from the ones in use? Thanks
Pipe info - diameter and material. Also good to show the valves on the water line and clean outs on the sewer.
Elevations and depths would be great.
Depths right under the lines; DOC (Depth of Cover)
Any abbreviations should be listed in your legend
Web Mercator projection is just about everywhere because it’s great for web mapping but is a big no at the site scale . Those words are a big red flag for something showing dimensions. Recommend change to a regional projected coordinate system and doublecheck your areas / distances. Even UTM would be a big improvement, for site work I’d use something more local but it might take you some work to track that down if you’re not familiar. In the US I’m talking about state plane or county systems but I assume you are somewhere else (meters) https://gisgeography.com/web-mercator-projection/
Obviously I’m a GIS nerd, I’ll add that the only reason I noticed is because you bothered to list the projection which is important but often skipped. So good work on that. That being said I almost never see all the details of the projection (like false easting) listed on a figure, you can just provide the name and for bonus points the projection id (epsg, or esri #). This issue with web Mercator comes up frequently because often the first thing people add to a figure is a streaming basemap and the project adopts that coordinate system. It really does cause errors in measurements though.
This is in your undergrad? This is awesome! I never did cool/ useful stuff like this. Sounds like you got a good school/ professor
Valves? I often find myself looking at potable water utility surveys to locate cutoff/isolation valves.
Maybe add lot pins. Scale in=ft. Show north arrows on little maps on the right. Parcels lots. Usually you don’t do colors on the platsheets, line weights, types and transparency is what you use. Add a sheet number on the bottom [Sheet 1 of 3]. Show areas in AC. Bldg areas in sq ft.
Thank you very much, I'll add those and use b&w for every feature 👍🏽
Dude. The plans are in the metric system.
In this case cm=m
Here's some recommendations: Sheet 1 - existing conditions Sheet 2 - proposed conditions I always like having structure and pipe tables (for larger projects). I'm assuming you're not using CAD or Civil 3D.
Sheet 1: locality plan with block highlighted, legend, and drawing list Sheet 2: existing services drawing Sheet 3: proposed services drawing Exisiting services example; water eW (add diameters on each run), proposed water W (in a thicker pen)
The stated scale only works for a specific page size. I would add a reference to whatever page size it's expected to be printed at (e.g. 1 cm = 1 meter @ A3). Unless I've missed that somewhere, apologies if so. Alternatively, you could use a scale bar. Also, not sure if it's really needed for standalone drainage systems, but they typically have inverts (elevations) recorded at the beginning/end of pipe segments (manholes typically).
Telecom.
No telecom lines, just one antenna mounted on the roof (internet) but all the cables run inside so I wasn't sure how I would represent that
It's prudent to include a duct for telecom even if satellite internet is planned for Day 1.
Got it, these are existing services so they didn't make provisions for telecomms but I think I'll regularize the plot to follow current standards as an exercise, i.e space utilities, add manholes to the drawing as advised in this thread, thanks
That sounds great. Now that I see where this plot is located I understand why it's satellite only.
It seems like everyone has given you good advice. I'll add from a plan presentation perspective, be consistent with your labeling. He an example of grading and utility plan from a project from a few years ago. [Example Plan](https://imgur.com/a/jtsWEWo)
even better having a visual example of how a utility plan would look like, thank you very much.
Pipes and cables usually have manholes or draw pits at every change in direction. So your drawing seems to lack manholes and drawpits. These are usually numbered aswell like MH01, MH02 and have cover level and invert level. And usually have a separate supporting document called manhole cards with more detailed info
There were manholes on site, I just skipped over them, but I will go back and get those surveyed in
Maybe a hydrant or at least a Tee at the end of the water line. Gate valve at the Point of connection to city main. Probably a meter too
Check your contour lines too. 6m jump from 183 to 189
Change the arrow thickness, it's the same as the contours
Huh, metric uses "sqm" just like we use "sq ft" in the US. I don't know why both of those don't just use a superscript 2, looks better imo. But I never see superscripts on plans.
We use m² and m³ in the UK unless I'm having a really bad day and can't find the ² symbol in autocad idk what the standard is elsewhere I swear I saw some German drawings with m² on them too tho
"PRINT IN COLOUR"
Should the power & water go off site somewhere?
Less bends in sewer line. Add dimensions or notes with the minimum separation distance between water and sewer lines, a scale near the north arrow. Looks great!
Unless the formatting you’re using is a requirement I think you could abbreviate alittle more and also almost all design drawings I’ve worked with (in the US) has all capitalized text. Examples: 120V OVERHEAD PWRLINE - 120V OHE B. PWRCABLE - UGE B. WTRLINE - (size) WL B. SEWAGE - (size) WW or SS
Drain field?
Legend with the utility owners
YES! I will do just that, thanks
Those seem like long runs without inspection chambers, check what your local standards are for that invert levels are useful at chambers too. A page size next to your scale is needed too do they typically show scales like that in your country? In the UK we would just show that as 1:100 @ a3. It seems a pretty decent drawing though especially for an undergrad nice one.
I would add flow arrows, maybe locate the public water main (assuming that’s the water source), capitalize all text, use line types with W, S, and E within them to show as water sewer, electric, etc. Those are more formatting as opposed to design but just some extra things to help drawings look clean
I thought about adding flow arrows but I felt the drawing was too cluttered
Maybe slopes too? I work in land development and we usually have pipe material, depths, slopes, diameters, lengths, and any clean outs/man holes/ connections on our plans
Not mandatory but something to keep in mind: We rarely print in color, even if you do it’s important to print it in grey scale to see if the colored lines remain distinguishable when gray. We distinguish lines types with weight, dashes, symboled dashes, and gray scale. I think it’s almost inevitable for a drawing to become gray scale or black at some point in its life cycle.
Got it! I'll play around with the line properties and export it in grey scale
Add nearby water main valves, manholes which should be adjacent to the buildings and add the lateral ties from buildings. As much as details are the best for construction engineers and inspectors bcuz its makes our lives much easier.
Proposed pipe elevations, i.e. invert elevations with respect to finished grades or surfaces. Might want to add a profile for each pipe; conflicts; points-of-connection; and details...trench detail, depth of over-excavation, pipe bedding depths and materials.
Add the schedule of the total area plot. Adds more detail for the entire thing.
An E in sptic tank
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,334,642,096 comments, and only 257,049 of them were in alphabetical order.
Bot good
For the love of christ fix your leaders.
Leaders are atrocious, try mleaders. Another thing that seems to be missed is that there isnt really a titleblock - drg number, date, scale, drawn by, etc. Basic stuff but required for all documents
You’re missing natural gas.
Most heating/cooking is done using electricity/portable gas cylinders in this part of the world so you won't find those anywhere
What's the source of the water. And I'm sure you probably need a drain field to dispose of the sewage. Size, length of pipes. And slope on the pipes.
Maybe a couple tiny north arrows in the locus maps on the right. They don't seem to be the same orientation as the map. General notes describing data collection methods, qualifying statements, call before you dig(don't know if you have that where you're at). ASCE has SUE levels that describe what lengths you went to to gather this data.
Legend? Utility sizes/material
Will add a legend later, wasn't sure what to put there. I don't have info on pipe widths or material (I could take a guess but I don't want to be wrong)
Assume based on local code /water/server demands per day per person. List the source. Way better than nothing
And where is the water hooked up to?
Deez
My first thought is are you a land surveyor? Did you survey those dimensions showing the boundary? We’re I live, it’s illegal for anyone but a surveyor to make claims on where property boundaries are. By putting those dimensions you expose your self to liability when they are proven to be inaccurate. Just my opinion.
I shot the boundaries and swept the features on site as an exercise so this is not an official document for submission and won't influence any activities on site (but could act as a visual reference), the owners still have to get a proper survey done.
There’s literally a law suit in court here in the states, California on this exact issue. Where a tech startup is dropping property boundaries on an aerial topo map. From Google imagery.
“Act as a visual reference “ equals evidence in a law suit. Do your self a favor and at least put a statement that these boundaries are not defined by a land surveying professional and a survey is needed for the precise location of property corners and therefore measured distances.
Understood, I'll add a statement
Rainwater drainage line and fire water line? Maybe no need for fire water if this is private housing.
Need to add the pipe sizes and either set out points or offset from features.