Building Pad Questions

[colinX7B66]

I've got a few questions about building pads. I understand that building pads are used to cut through a toposurface and represent an excavated area. However, what is the pad itself used for and what does it represent? Can it be like a concrete slab or some sort of fill, like sand or gravel? Can't I just use the "split surface" tool to create another toposurface, delete it to create a void in the toposurface, and then use a filled region in a section view?. I think it would help me understand building pads better if I saw how they were used in a section view type. Thanks for any information.

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

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@colinX7B66 wrote:

I've got a few questions about building pads. I understand that building pads are used to cut through a toposurface and represent an excavated area. However, what is the pad itself used for and what does it represent? Can it be like a concrete slab or some sort of fill, like sand or gravel? Can't I just use the "split surface" tool to create another toposurface, delete it to create a void in the toposurface, and then use a filled region in a section view?. I think it would help me understand building pads better if I saw how they were used in a section view type. Thanks for any information.

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I consider a Building Pad a Site Preparation element (e.g. a rat slab, a layer of sand or gravel, etc...) goes under the actual the building foundation.

While you could go without a building pad by modifying the topo directly one way or another, I think it is way more cumbersome and in effective comparing to using building pads.  Plus, you would lose the ability to calculate Cut and Fill such method.

[colinX7B66]

So where would the building pad be located in a section like this?:

Would the building pad be located underneath the slab or the footing? If it was just located underneath the slab, wouldn't it not take into account the area for the foundation wall and footing? Isn't the building pad supposed to go around the outermost part of a building? But if a footing comes into direct contact with the earth beneath, why would a building pad be underneath the footing? I'm a student, so I still have a lot to learn and a lot of questions. Thanks for your patience.