TL;DR
Grading is the shaping of soil elevations around a structure or across a lot to control how surface water drains, typically establishing a fall of at least 6 inches in the first 10 feet away from a foundation as the IRC prescribes. Done with skid steers, box blades, or hand tools depending on scale, it precedes sod, patios, and drainage systems and corrects the negative slopes that send roof and yard water against basement walls.
What it means
Grading is the shaping of soil elevations around a structure or across a lot to control how surface water drains, typically establishing a fall of at least 6 inches in the first 10 feet away from a foundation as the IRC prescribes. Done with skid steers, box blades, or hand tools depending on scale, it precedes sod, patios, and drainage systems and corrects the negative slopes that send roof and yard water against basement walls. Poor results show up as ponding, soggy lawn strips, and damp foundations after rain.
Where it sits in the glossary
Grading is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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