Reading plans, sections, elevations and details, understanding scale, dimensions and building symbols, and carrying out material take-offs is a fundamental masonry competence. Here are the drawing types, standard scales, the dimension system and the path from drawing to stone, mortar and concrete quantities.
Introduction
All brickwork starts with a drawing. Before the first stone is laid, you must be able to read plan, section and elevation, understand the scale and heights, and extract the quantities you need to order. The calculators here on the site assume precisely that you can read the correct dimensions — they calculate the geometry, but the dimensions come from the drawing material.
The drawing types
- 01Floor plan — the building seen from above as a horizontal section; shows the position and thickness of walls, openings and horizontal dimensions.
- 02Section drawing — a vertical section through the building; shows heights, levels and layer construction (foundation, ground slab, masonry, roof).
- 03Facade drawing — building seen directly from the side; shows the masonry appearance, openings, material changes and level lines.
- 04Detail drawing — a section at a large scale of e.g. plinth, damp-proof course, lintel or eaves.
- 05Situation plan — the building placed on the land with levels and distances to boundaries.
Scale ratio (scale)
A drawing is downscaled at a fixed scale. 1:100 means that 1 mm on the drawing equals 100 mm in reality. The smaller the denominator, the more detail. DS/EN ISO 5455 sets the standardised scales that must be used, so drawings can be read consistently across trades.
| Scale ratio | 1 mm på tegning = | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 1:200 / 1:100 | 200 / 100 mm | Situation plan, plan and facade for the entire building |
| 1:50 | 50 mm | Plan and section — working drawing |
| 1:20 / 1:10 | 20 / 10 mm | Cuts and individual building parts |
| 1:5 / 1:1 | 5 / 1 mm | Details and full size |
Heights — building elevations
En kote er en højdeangivelse i forhold til et nulpunkt. I Danmark refereres til det landsdækkende højdesystem DVR90 (meter over normalnul), men på selve tegningen sættes ofte et lokalt ±0,00 = færdigt gulv i stueplan, som alle andre koter måles fra — fx +2,60 for underkant loft og −0,90 for underkant fundament. Koterne på snit- og facadetegning fortæller, hvor højt der skal mures, hvor fugtspærren ligger, og hvor mange skifter der er plads til.
- 01±0.00 — the reference, typically finished floor in ground storey.
- 02Positive dimensions up, negative dimensions down.
- 03DVR90 — the national reference system, the situation plan is often level-set according to.
Building element symbols and signatures
Drawings use standard symbols for materials and building elements — brick, concrete, insulation and lightweight concrete each have their own hatching — and building elements are often described according to a classification system. In Danish construction, Molio descriptions (formerly bips) and CCS classification tie drawing and description together, so a wall in the drawing corresponds to a building element description with materials, mortar and tolerances.
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