Learning branch
Building systems
Conceptual power, water, drainage, and HVAC planning with visible professional-review boundaries.
Start here
Use system overlays to coordinate locations and identify long or conflicting routes. A licensed professional must size, specify, and approve the actual system.
A practical path through this branch
- Place sources and endpoints
- Sketch conceptual routes
- Flag crossings and long runs
- Hand the plan to qualified trades
7 detailed guides
Each draft provides a direct answer, worked example, decision logic, limitations, primary sources, and a route into a relevant tool or starter plan.
Electrical layout concepts for early planning
Coordinate intended loads, outlets, lighting, controls, equipment, and routes without pretending to design a compliant electrical system.
Read guidePending reviewRead a conceptual power-connectivity overlay
Use graph reachability to expose disconnected endpoints and disabled branches while preserving the engineering boundary.
Read guidePending reviewConceptual water-supply routing
Compare trunk-and-branch, core, and manifold concepts by route length and fixture grouping.
Read guidePending reviewDrain and vent planning context
Reserve plausible vertical and horizontal coordination zones without generating plumbing design.
Read guidePending reviewHVAC planning before equipment sizing
Reserve equipment, distribution, return paths, ventilation, condensate, and service access while leaving sizing to qualified analysis.
Read guidePending reviewPlanning a lighting layout room by room
Lay out ambient, task, and accent lighting from the activities in each room instead of spacing downlights on a grid.
Read guidePending reviewPlanning for an EV charger at the panel and in the garage
What to reserve now - panel space, a route, and a mounting position - so that adding a charger later is a small job rather than a service upgrade.
Read guide