About ReadTheSet
A practice drawing set for learning to read construction documents, with 207 graded questions, 10 lessons and 10 guides built around it.
The set, and why it is made up
The 16 sheets here document the Millbrook Branch Library, a 6,400 square foot building classed A-3 assembly, library. The library, its owner, the design firms and the address are all invented. A real set belongs to its owner and the firms that sealed it, so it cannot be republished, and a redacted one loses what makes a set worth studying: every sheet agreeing with every other.
Where the drawings come from
A single project data file sets the grids, levels, rooms, wall types, door and window tags and schedule rows, and each sheet is drawn as SVG from those values, so a dimension measured with the scale tool comes from the model rather than from a picture. Drafting conventions follow the US National CAD Standard, which is named where a question relies on it and never reproduced.
The reference layer describes 47 symbols and 289 abbreviations in plain words, noting where a job may define one differently. ReadTheSet is not affiliated with NCCER, AIA, or NIBS.
Byline and dates
Every guide goes out as ReadTheSet. None has an individual byline, and every guide's page markup credits the ReadTheSet organization as author. No architect, engineer or instructor is credited anywhere. Where a guide and a sheet disagree, trust the sheet. A guide's printed date follows the last edit to its text.
Who runs it
A single independent developer built the practice set and keeps ReadTheSet running, and also makes SpanRef (framing spans), PressBench (print estimating), ThreadRef (screw threads) and RefDrill (FE handbook navigation), each a separate site with its own subject.
What this site cannot do
- It does not provide construction documents. Nothing here is a released drawing, nothing is sealed, and nothing has been through a permit.
- Your set governs. On a real job the issued drawings, specifications, addenda and RFI answers take precedence over anything learned here.
- No design authority. Anything that carries load, encloses an exit or could hurt somebody must be designed and sealed by a qualified professional.
- No credential. Finishing every lesson certifies nothing.
- No field decisions. A dimension scaled off a sheet is not a dimension you cut to.
Reporting a problem
Two sheets that disagree is the most useful thing to report. Mail [email protected] with the sheet number and what does not match. For anything else, see the privacy policy and the terms.