help reading stakes
hi all i am fairly new to the industry and i am looking for info on how to read grade stakes for cutting slopes 2/1,3/1 and so on please help is there any tools that would help
Hi yukoner, Reading grade stakes is a fairly simple task. The two most important ones that have to be in place to cut or fill a slope accurately would be the top of slope and bottom (or what is referred to as the toe of the slope). Those two stakes determine the location and grade of the slope where they are located. They would be marked with a cut or fill, usually in feet. An example of that would be cut 1 foot to finish or subgrade. No stakes or more stakes between the top and bottom of the slope would depend on the ability of whoever is finishing the slope. That may be a grader operator,dozer operater or even a scraper operater.
Read some of this thread wich talks about working different slopes
and reading grade stakes, and some different charts.
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One simple tool that helped me when I first started reading them is that if you multiply the amount of cut or fill by whatever slope they want, it will always give you the distance to the toe of the slope. For example if your cut stake reads C 5.0 @ 3:1, then the toe of the slope is 15 feet from the stake. Remember though, that it is a straight line out from the stake and not 15 feet laying down the slope. You can't lay your grade rod on the slope and measure 15 feet out, it won't work. You can use your rod and take it in 5 foot increments to measure it out.
This tool really helps when you are working an odd slope, like say, a 2.6:1 or something.
Hope that helps!
I should clarify and say it helps no matter what slope you are working. I should also make it clear that if you multiply the cut or fill by whatever slope the stake reads, it will give you EITHER the distance to the toe or the top of the slope, depending on if you cutting or filling.
If you had an example of what one your stakes reads, it might be easier to explain.