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Building components

External Works & Paving Elements

The laying course, wearing course, edge restraint, deck framing, guarding posts and the enclosing and surfacing elements that make up the ground outside the building.

10 entries in this category.

Overview

About this category

A paved surface is a build-up, not a single thing. What is walked or driven on sits on a laying course, and both are held in place by a restraint at the edge — remove the restraint and the surface migrates outward until it fails. Timber decks have the same logic expressed in framing rather than layers, and the same ground carries the posts, caps and steps that enclose it and move between its levels.

These entries describe those positions. They do not state depths, falls, compaction, joint widths, guarding heights or loadings.

Boundaries

What this category covers, and what it does not

  • Covers the positioned layers and framing of external paved surfaces and decks, the posts and caps of boundary and enclosure work, the units that form a change of level in ground construction, and resilient layers laid beneath a surfacing.
  • Does not cover paving units, bedding mortars, pedestals, kerbs or decking boards, which are published material entries.
  • Does not cover paving SYSTEMS — flexible, rigid and permeable paving, deck framing and balustrade systems are building systems.
  • States no depth, fall, joint width, compaction, guarding height or imposed load.

Browse

Forms and roles in this category

Descriptive labels for what is here. They are a way of reading the list, not a filter and not a ranking.

Forms:Continuous layerLinear memberProfile or trimUnit or module
Roles:FinishProtectionSeparationStructureSubstrateSupportTerminationWeather control

Entries

Paving & Decks components

Every entry in this category. Each explains what the element is, what it depends on, and how it relates to materials, systems and junctions.

Linear memberBalustrade Post →The vertical member carrying a guarding, whose fixing at its base determines whether the guarding resists load.Linear memberDeck Bearer →A member carrying deck joists and transferring their load to posts or to the building.Linear memberDeck Joist →A spanning member in an external deck, carrying the boards above in an exposure environment a floor joist never sees.Profile or trimEdge Restraint →The element holding the edge of a paved surface so its units and layers cannot migrate sideways.Continuous layerLaying Course →The thin layer directly beneath paving units that receives them and lets them be brought to level.Continuous layerWearing Course →The uppermost layer of a paved surface, which takes traffic and weather and is what the build-up is judged by.Unit or moduleExternal Step →A change of level within external works, formed as part of the paving and ground construction rather than as part of a building's structure.Linear memberFence Post →The freestanding vertical member, set into ground or onto a base, that carries fence panels, rails or wires along a line.Unit or modulePier Cap →The shaped unit closing the top of a masonry pier, which sheds water away from the masonry below and terminates the pier.Continuous layerShockpad Layer →The resilient layer laid between the constructed base and the playing surface of a sports or play area, and buried once that surface is installed.

Related reference libraries

Components are what materials become and what systems are made of. The three libraries answer different questions and are kept deliberately separate.

Materials Library →Building Systems →