ᐅ Reading Drawings – What Do Elevation Measurements Mean?

In our drawing, the kitchen window sill height is listed as +1.06 m (3 ft 6 in). To me, this means a sill height of 1.06 m (3 ft 6 in) measured from the finished floor. With a kitchen counter height of 0.91 m (3 ft), this would leave 15 cm (6 inches) for things like power outlets. This is also how the kitchen designer calculated it. Now the bricklayer says that the sill height refers to the structural shell and that an additional 20 cm (8 inches) must be added to the raw floor level for underfloor heating and the screed. Then the window would only be 86 cm (2 ft 10 in) above the finished floor, making it 5 cm (2 inches) lower than the kitchen countertop. That can’t be right. What is correct?

Well, this is going to be funny if all the windows end up too low. This, of course, refers to the finished floor level.

No, this needs to be clarified whether the drawing measurement refers to the raw floor or the finished floor. Since these drawings often serve as the basis for the masonry work, it is very likely the raw floor.

By the way, a parapet height of 86 cm (34 inches) in the finished state means you should clarify how high the window frame will be. Then, the kitchen countertop could be extended into the window recess instead of having a windowsill.

If he has architectural plans, it is the finished floor level measurement. If this had to be clarified for every construction project, surely someone would have thought about standardizing it by now.

Well, then @Heidi1965 should share her plan.

I have seen far too many plans where this was either not clearly communicated or was still related to the raw floor... which comes up here in the forum repeatedly.

For us, it was definitely the rough subfloor, precisely because the plans are first given to the masons. The exact finished floor height is often not yet well defined. When bundling cables, water pipes, and heating, the screed is simply made one or two centimeters (around 0.4 or 0.8 inches) thicker.