# Small scale (小局)

> The small scale is the range right around the house: the street, lane, yard and drains next to the site. In cities it is read mainly through street water — treating streets as waterways.

- Vietnamese: Tiểu cuộc
- English: Small scale
- Chinese: 小局
- Chinese characters: 小局
- Also called: Tiểu cuộc · Xiao Ju

## Explanation

The small scale acts most directly on the main door: which way traffic and people flow, where a road curves around the house or cuts toward it, T-junctions, dead ends.

Since streets are only "virtual water", a small-scale reading always comes with a level of certainty — a clear main road is more reliable than a narrow path.

## How Home Check uses it

Home Check locates the small-scale Water Mouth from street water and shows a confidence level, so you know how firm the result is. — [Compass & site reading](https://myhomecheck.ai/compass)

## Related terms

- [Street water](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/street-water): Street water is the practice in urban water methods of treating streets and lanes as waterways, because flows of people and vehicles carry energy the way water does.
- [Middle scale](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/middle-scale): The middle scale is the intermediate range in reading landform and water: the rise and fall of the land within a few kilometres of the site.
- [Bright hall](https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/bright-hall): The bright hall is the open space in front of a house where energy gathers before entering the main door.

## Questions

### How is the small scale read for a house in an alley?

The alley in front is the nearest waterway; the end where it opens onto a larger road is usually treated as where water leaves.

### Why does the small scale have a confidence level?

Because streets are not real water; the confidence level tells you how clear and continuous the street is, and so how much it deserves to be read as water.

---  
Original page: https://myhomecheck.ai/learn/glossary/small-scale  
Other languages: [Tiếng Việt](https://myhomecheck.ai/vi/tri-thuc/thuat-ngu/tieu-cuoc/index.md) · [中文](https://myhomecheck.ai/zh/learn/glossary/small-scale/index.md)  
Updated: 2026-10-21