A helpful guide about batterboards, and how they’re used for small construction projects like building decks and patios, and laying foundation.
When you’re building a deck, pouring a patio, laying out a foundation, or doing other similar types of construction, part of the layout process often involves a setup referred to as “batterboards.”
So what are batterboards and why do you need them?
Batterboards ensure a “square” layout. That is, they guarantee that all four corners of a layout will be at true 90-degree angles.
These temporary guides are typically cobbled together on site from five wood scraps: three stakes driven into the ground in the form of a right angle and two horizontal lengths joined to the stakes, as shown in this illustration.
Batterboards are placed just beyond the corners of the proposed building site so they don’t get in the way of actual construction.
Strings are tightly stretched between batterboard pairs and fastened to partially driven nails or notches cut into the horizontal members. The strings, which indicate the proper alignment of foundations or walls, are easy to adjust back and forth until everything lines up perfectly.
You know the corners are square when you measure diagonally from corner to corner and the measurements match.
Batterboards are so named because they were originally used to check the “batter,” or receding upward incline, of a masonry wall.
