CHAPTER XVI
BUILDING THE BARN—THE BASEMENT
Squaring the foundation site is a simple operation, yet few are able to perform it, and it is seldom that a surveyor is at hand. Buildings are so generally placed with their fronts parallel to the highway or the private way, that the road may be assumed to be the base line. Four stakes set in the middle of the road, as shown in [Fig. 96], establish the base line, from which is measured the distance from the road at which it is desired to place the building. The stakes A and B should be placed farther apart than the width of the front of the building; they are connected by a line which is parallel to the road and forms the permanent base line. Next the stakes C and D are placed, and also connected by a line. With a 10-foot pole, six feet are measured off on either line, beginning at the intersection of the lines, and eight feet on the other line. If the line C to D is at right angles to the line AB, the 10-foot measure will just reach from 6 to 8, since 6 multiplied by 6, plus 8 multiplied by 8, equals 100, and the square root of 100 is 10. Should the 10-foot measure be longer than from 6 to 8, the stake D is moved to the left until the pole reaches from 6 to 8; if the measure is too short to reach from 6 to 8, the stake is moved to the right. All of these measurements should be gone over two or three times, as in moving the stake the lines may stretch or shrink. Either a pin or a pencil mark may be used to indicate the measurements on the lines at 6 and 8.
Fig. 96. Locating the barn.
If the building is to be 26 feet deep, that distance is measured on the line CD and the same distance from the line AB. Stakes are then driven and a line drawn from E to F, and in like manner a line is drawn from G to H. The work is verified by squaring the last angle as in the first case. The eight dots represent stakes driven in even with the surface of the ground, at just 10 feet from the corners. Since it will be necessary to remove the lines before the horse scraper can be used in excavating, and as the construction stakes at the corners will be disturbed, the short stakes become necessary that the lines may be restored as the work proceeds and the excavation kept square and true. It will be seen that a line drawn from A to B will restore the base line, and in like manner the other lines may be quickly reproduced. It will be necessary, too, to restore these lines before the foundation wall is begun. By “plumbing” downward from the restored lines, other lines may be placed in the bottom of the excavation, which will be duplicates of those first drawn.
Fig. 97. The original incline or slope is too steep.
Fig. 98. The original slope is not steep enough.