The survey sheet, and what is written on it

Attendance is at the address given in the booking. Areas are walked in full prior to any measurement, and each area is given a reference on the sheet.

The occupier is asked what the floor is to carry. Loading, traffic and the finish under consideration are written down at that point, because each of the three sets a different tolerance later.

Access is agreed for the openings. Openings leave the covering cut, so their positions are agreed prior to any cutting, and they are taken in positions that are to be covered by the new build-up.

Where a floor is in use, the survey is programmed around the use. Areas are surveyed in sequence rather than in one visit, and each area carries its own date of attendance on the sheet.

A grid is set out across each area and its stations are numbered from one corner. The spacing is stated on the sheet, and it is closer where the finish is a thin sheet or a resin.

At every station a 2 m straightedge is laid in two directions. The deviation under it is read to the nearest millimetre and written against the station number. A high point is recorded as a high point; a hollow is recorded as a hollow, with its depth.

Falls are recorded as a fall over a stated run, taken to gullies and to thresholds. A fall is never recorded as a percentage on this sheet, because the run it applies over is the thing the specification needs.

A datum line is struck along one wall and carried through the area. Thresholds, door undercuts and the finished floor level of adjoining areas are measured from it.

Three openings per room are taken as a minimum. An opening is taken down to the structural base, and it is squared off so that each layer can be measured at a cut edge.

Each layer is logged in order, from the covering down. Material, thickness and condition are written against the layer, and a layer that is loose is recorded as loose rather than as present.

What is written against one opening

Field	What is entered
Reference	Area reference and the station the opening sits nearest
Layer	Covering, adhesive, compound, screed, membrane, base, in that order
Thickness	Measured at the cut edge, in millimetres
Condition	Sound, hollow, loose, dusty, contaminated
Bond	Bonded, unbonded, or a separating layer found between two layers

Bitumen, old adhesive residue and separating layers are the three that most often change a specification, so each is recorded by area as well as by opening.

A timber deck is opened up at a board joint. Board thickness, joist spacing and fixing type are recorded, and any deflection under load is noted with the position it was felt at.

Hygrometer positions are marked on the grid before any box is left down, and they are marked on the floor itself. A position that cannot be marked on the floor is not used.

Photographs are taken at each opening, at each defect and along the datum. Every photograph is filed under the area reference and the room it was taken in, so a photograph is never held loose.

Defects are marked at the station nearest to them. Curling is marked at the joint or the edge it runs along; cracking is marked along its length, with a note of whether it is live.

The completed grid leaves site as the record of the area. Nothing is added to it afterwards from memory, and where a figure is missing the area is revisited rather than estimated.

The report carries the level grid, the opened-up sections, the marked hygrometer positions and the defects found. It states the preparation required, the tolerance the base is to be brought to, and the reading to be met prior to ordering.

No product is named in it. Where a rate is quoted it is quoted as a rate to be read off the data sheet of whatever product is later specified, and the report says so on the face of it.

Each report is issued against a reference. The reference is the key to every record held for the address, and it is quoted on any later correspondence about that floor.

The classes the report sets a base to are explained on the regularity sheet, and the records held against a reference, with the retention set against each, are listed in the annex.

SEALUS LTD
C/O Taxassist Accountants
35 Bartholomew Street
Newbury
RG14 5LL
United Kingdom
surveys@sealus.work