ION ORACLE - Traditional Surveys

TRADITIONAL SURVEYS

Sector 2

Traditional surveys are used when there are no properly scaled aerial images for the designer to use as reference to complete the design.
This should be indicated in the service ticket, but you should also check for:

Distorted fish-eye like images that clearly come from an overhead drone import and not a proper satellite image
Markings on images as if they had been opened in other programs, circled and imported into aurora for use

When a photo other than a proper satellite image is used for the proposal, then the roof will not be scaled correctly and we will need to make sure to get traditional measurements.
When this is the case, we will need measurements for the roofs dimensions and locations of roof obstructions to complete the design.

1 | WHAT WE NEED & HOW TO DO IT

GETTING THE MEASUREMENTS

EAVES & ROOF PERIMETER

ROOF SECTION DRAWINGS

MAPPING OBSTRUCTIONS

CHALK LINES

MEASURING HIPS/VALLEYS AND RIDGES

2 | EXAMPLE

EXAMPLE

COMPLETING THE DRAWING

1 | QUIZ

1 | WHAT WE NEED & HOW TO DO IT

Completing a traditional survey can be daunting when it comes to understanding what measurements we need.

Fortunately, we can get the correct roof area for a roof section using only a few measurements using our modeling software.

GETTING THE MEASUREMENTS

Try not to get on the roof if you can avoid it. Take as many measurements as you can from a ladder.

PROVIDING CONTEXT

When collecting measurements, please get photos that show some context as to how the measurement was taken.

SHINGLE EXPOSURE

Shingle exposure is a great way for designers to scale out and confirm roof obstruction locations and roof measurements.

What is shingle exposure? It is the visible part of each row of shingle. Think of it as the spacing between shingle rows.

See demonstration to the right:

SITE DRAWING

For traditional surveys, there are a couple drawings that should be made. One is the main site drawing and the other is individual roof section drawings and dimensions for roof sections that will be occupied by PV. You man consolidate these drawings into one when it is appropriate to do so. Mainly, this will be when we're surveying a simple gable structure with minimal obstructions.

For the main site drawing we need:

The perimeter of the entire roof.
- The length of the roof for gable roofs.
The pitch of each roof section.
The rough location of all obstructions.
- Including a key for general size of obstructions
The rough location of any dormer.
Location of any dividing walls for multifamily dwellings.

ROOF LENGTH

We will need the length from the eave to the ridge for every roof section.

- Note that for equilateral roofs, you only need to measure the roof on one side of the ridge to be more conducive with your measurements and save time.

On hip roofs, Similar principles apply, but instead of measuring from the ridge to eave, you can just get the horizontal eave of each hip.

As long as we get pitch measurements for each roof section, we should be able to render the area correctly based on this.
Again, this assumes that the roofs are of equal lenght on either side of the ridge.
1. Make sure to be extra detailed when this is not the case, such as when there is a full level drop or pitch change on one side of the ridge.

Only measure both sides from eave to ridge when:

- There is a clear difference in pitch between both sides.
- One side of the edge experiences an symmetrical pitch change
- There is a clear difference in height between the eaves on either side of the ridge such as in the photo on the right where the left side roof drops an entire level.

EAVES & ROOF PERIMETER

We need the length of each horizontal eave

For lower roofs:

Measure the distance from the lower eave to the wall.
Measure the horizontal length of each eave.
And of course, always get the roof pitch.

DORMERS

For dormers, get the distance from the main ridge to the vertex where the dormer meets the main roof. roof.

To save space, this may be added to your sketches for individual roof sections following the same format as you will for mapping obstructions on that drawing.
- On a simple gable structure, it could be advisable to only complete a single site drawing with all the needed details that would normally be included in the individual roof sketches.

PITCHES

We need the pitch of every roof section.

OBSTRUCTIONS

For the site drawing, please try to be accurate with obstruction placement, but you don't need to clutter the site drawing with the distance measurements. this can be completed on the individual roof section drawings.

On the site drawing, make sure to complete a key to indicate general sizing for obstructions.
We need a simple distance measurement for each obstruction in the X and Y direction.
- On a simple gable structure, it could be advisable to only complete a single site drawing with all the needed details that would normally be included in the individual roof sketches.

This is an example of a site drawing. Notice that the perimeter is completely dimensioned, and there is a rough map of obstruction location.

The surveyor also included a key indicating the size of obstructions:

MULTI FAMILY HOMES

For multi family homes, you will need to indicate where the division is between dwelling units.

In the example to the right, it is indicated using the orange line:

ROOF SECTION DRAWINGS

the roof section drawings for each individual roof section that will be occupied by PV will need to include:

Dimensions of each roof edge
Chalk line references corresponding with chalk lines on the roof.
precise X & Y distance measurements for each obstruction
- Measured to reference chalk lines or straight roof edges.

MAPPING OBSTRUCTIONS

This is an example of a completed roof section drawing for two roof sections to be occupied by PV.

The surveyor included a key for where chalk lines are located and gave measurements in inches and indicated the direction that the measurement was taken from:

Always measure from the center of pipe/circle obstructions.
Measure from the corner of square obstructions.

Make sure to be as detailed as possible with your key on this drawing.

CHALK LINES

For complex roofs with hips and valleys, it is best to section off the roof by creating vertical calk lines at apparent intersections of the roof. This ensures that we can perfectly square up the distance dimensions for obstructions:

The red lines represent where chalk lines should be drawn on the roof.
- Make them as straight and squared as possible using the alignment of the shingles to help with this.
The green lines represent how the distance measurements should be taken for each obstruction in the "X" direction.
- always measure to the closest relevant reference line.

Note that if one side of a hip roof had an edge with a typical gable shape, you may just use the roof edge for obstructions near that location.

This is another example of where chalk lines can be drawn and where to measure from.

The red lines represent where chalk lines should be drawn on the roof.
The green lines represent how the distance measurements should be taken for each obstruction in the "X" direction.

For hip roofs, you may measure to either the horizontal ridge or to the horizontal eave:

In most cases, measuring to the eave will be easier to get your "Y" distance measurement.
Which ever method you choose, ensure that you indicate the direction that you measured in on the final drawing.

This is another example of where to measure to get your "Y" distance measurement on a hip roof.

MEASURING HIPS/VALLEYS AND RIDGES

As mentioned prior, you only need to get these specific roof measurements for roofs that can be occupied by PV. Make sure to measure at the center of the ridge/valley cap shingle or the valley seam:

The green line is where the measurement should be taken for this hip.
The red lines are not to be used to measure the length of the hip.

In this example, if all of these roofs could be occupied by PV, these are the measurements that would need to be collected for each roof section.

Here is the same example photo again. Notice the measurements indicated on each roof edge.

2 | EXAMPLE

EXAMPLE

The yellow rulers show every measurement that would need to be taken to accurately model this particular roof:

Length from Eave to Ridge on one side of the main ridge
Horizontal length of the eave on one side of the ridge.
Distance from the the edge of the main roof the the edge of the dormer along the horizontal eave.
Distance from eave to ridge on the dormer.
Distance from the vertex of the dormer to the main ridge
Distance from the exterior wall to the eave of the lower roof.
Length of the horizontal length of the eave of the lower roof.

**disclaimer: example is imposed on a roof that does have sufficient aerial imagery to demonstrate what design is looking for. You will only be completing traditional surveys on roofs with no available aerial imagery.**

Note that when you scale your 2D drawing on graph paper, the 3D eave to ridge measurement is different than the 2D overhead view.

Make adjustments on your drawing as necessary but be consistent with your adjustments on your reference drawing.
Make sure that the distance notated is the 3D measurement of the full rafter length.

Measure obstructions from roof edges in a simple X&Y type format for easy translation to graph paper.

COMPLETING THE DRAWING

Make sure to roughly scale your image using graph paper.

This example is made on 10 squares per inch graph paper. It is recommended to scale 1 block = 1 foot:

Draw dots to represent corner perimeters.
Use of a ruler or straight edge to draw roof edges is recommended but not required.

Draw lines to connect the dots

Don’t forget to also draw the lower roof section.

Now, draw the location of the obstructions according to the measurements you took
- Be sure to scale them to your best judgement

Lastly, label all your measurements.
- Indicate any discrepancies made with the drawing.
  - In this example, an obstruction was drawn in the wrong location at first. The surveyor made a note to indicate that no obstruction is present in that location.

Make sure to leave any context you can for your scaled drawing.

In this example, the surveyor made a quick legend at the top indicating the scale.

1 | QUIZ

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