Section – a Slice through the Building

A section shows a view of the building as though it has been sliced through with a giant chainsaw so that the inside of the building is exposed, including the inside of things like walls, door frames and roof members. This helps the builder and contractors know how parts of the building go together. One floor plan may have several section views related to it so that various features inside the building can be shown.

Sections are usually labelled ‘A-A’, ‘B-B’ and so on, indicating each end of the ‘slice’. The floor plan shows where each ‘slice’ comes from. The section shown in Figure 1.5 is called ‘W-W’

The floor plan is marked with the symbols to show that the section is taken through bedrooms 3 and 4 and the garage. The two W symbols are offset, to show that the section was not taken in a straight line through the house.