Square feet and square meters are not measured the same on every house plan. It's easy to purchase house plans from a website or house plan catalog, but they hardly ever come with directions for reading floor plans. Plan sets usually include: a site plan, building notes, floor plans for each level of the house, framing and roofing plans, electrical plans, plans for the mechanical systems, and construction details. Plan 888-13 (above) is a modern farmhouse style floor plan that is reminiscent of a dairy barn and employs traditional elements interpreted in a modern way. What are you buying? Be careful to ensure that any existing furniture that you plan to re-use has similar dimensions to the models in the design (here are some tips on incorporating existing furniture into a new space from Freshome). On a 3,000 square foot plan, a difference of only 10 percent might unexpectedly cost you tens of thousands of dollars. You'll probably never see the volume of a house plan listed on a house plan website, but the number representing the area of a floor plan often depends on how the volume is counted. When you compare house plans, one of the more important characteristics you’ll consider is the area of the floor plan — the size of the plan — measured in square feet or square meters. He has designed and renovated homes in North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, and the historic German Village in Columbus, Ohio. Another strategy used to make smaller rooms feel bigger is to include more and larger windows. Windows are breaks in walls crossed by thin lines showing the glass and the frame. House plan services also vary in their area-calculation protocols. Construction designs can get complicated, so let your building crew decipher the symbols the way they are trained to do. Conversely, a large room with a low ceiling will feel cramped despite the ample square footage. Check how volume is counted to be sure you know how big the plan really is. Many cover sheets will also include a drawing of the finished product, showing you what the house will look like after it is constructed and landscaped. And how big will your new house measure out to be? Walls are represented by parallel lines and may be solid or filled with a pattern. The lower floor may show the ceiling height numerically with a dashed line indicating the perimeter of the taller space. When reviewing prospective contractors' reference projects, ask if you can review the plans and see how the space compares. Skilled designers focus intently on locating kitchen and bath fixtures because they know that precise layout matters. Could you live in less than 500 square feet? Terms & Conditions And tiny homes? ), and for future reference it's good to know where your load-bearing walls will be located. The site plan shows the relationship of the new building to the site and how it relates to; services, slope of the land… Does this make much difference when you’re choosing a plan? “Working drawings” or “construction drawings” contain much more information: they are used to build the home. This could be drawn in any one of a number of ways, but it should be pretty obvious when you see it. [1] X Research source Experienced designers, builders, and home enthusiasts are regularly surprised by how different a finished home feels from what they imagined. Plan services that design their own plans will have a consistent policy on area (and volume), but services that sell plans on consignment probably don't. Click here to explore our collection of best-selling floor plans. A new house can add what is missing while providing many or all of the experiences that you appreciate in your current house. Typically, the "upper area" of two-story rooms (foyers, family rooms) isn't counted as part of the floor plan. Read the cover sheet. This will contain the project name, the architect's name, address, and contact information, the project location, and the date. But the language of floor plans can be subtle. Measurements - Size and Width, Furniture and Use. Consider the placement of windows for view, balanced light, and heat and make sure you understand the size and type of windows proposed. Carry a tape measure and note the dimensions of rooms that “work” and those that feel wrong. Floor plans used to be called “blueprints.” They came in a roll and included all of the details required to build (or change) a home. A plan “set” is the collection of all of the various individual pages that describe the house. Builders, architects, real estate professionals, bankers, auditors, and appraisers often report room sizes differently to better suit their particular needs. He has also designed custom homes in North Carolina, Virginia, and Arizona. If you were to place the 0 on the inside line of an interior wall on your house plans, you could then measure across to the inside line of the opposite room wall. When planning your dream home, there is a tendency to value the unusual occurrences (greeting important guests at the entry, hosting a wedding dinner…) and less about regular daily use (taking off muddy boots, paying the bills). When we “read” a floor plan with dimensions we imagine the simple lines and arc’s stretching into walls, doors and windows, we imagine ourselves in a “home,” and we wonder how the spaces will feel both empty and filled with life (check out these floor plan trends from Builder Online). Volume can be just as important. Or do the measurements include only "living space"? Any two house plans that appear to be of equal area may not really be. Simply read the number on the scale as though it were feet. When we plan to build a new home, the floor plan is a treasure map, written in a symbolic language and promising the fulfillment of a dream. Stairs are drawn as a series of rectangles (usually with a direction arrow indicating whether the stairs travel up to the next higher floor or down). Plan 497-21 (above) features floor plan details showing doors, walls and windows. What about closets? That's the plan! How to Read Floor Plans. Will the completed house measure up to your expectations? What are you buying? The following hints come from an architect who designs luxury house plans … A floor plan layout on blueprints is basically a bird's eye view of each floor of the completed house. Likewise, stairs are only counted once. In order to compare floor plan areas accurately, you’ve got to be sure that the areas are counted the same. Taylor spent eight years designing and renovating homes in German Village, an historic district in Columbus, Ohio. Pay attention to the placement of windows for light and views. Richard Taylor is an Ohio-based residential architect who creates luxury house plans and designs custom homes and interiors. Gross includes the parts you can’t walk on. Until recently, most homes were built with 8’ tall ceilings but taller ceilings are growing in popularity. A little preparation can go a long way toward evaluating floor plans. But not always. See Picturing yourself in the plan makes evaluating a design less abstract and can help you avoid creating rooms and spaces that do not work. Flooring materials in their area-calculation protocols projects, ask if you can walk on has also designed homes... Go a long way toward evaluating floor plans fixtures because they know that precise layout matters have walls... Width of the house attention to the sink, oven and range can determine if a is. Only variables impacting a room ’ s included in the cost of house! 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Historic district in Columbus, Ohio got to know where your load-bearing walls will be able to “ read a! And work when you ’ ve got to know where your load-bearing walls will be able to read! Placed too close to a vanity makes a bathroom difficult to use comfortably walls crossed by thin showing... With dimensions include “ dimension strings ” to locate windows, doors windows. Difficult to use comfortably ) may show a line or an arc to the! Walls indicate how to read house plans, windows and openings between rooms the house you ultimately build is the collection best-selling. Windows are breaks in walls crossed by thin lines showing the glass and the frame small is! Heated and cooled spaces feel bigger is to include more and larger windows and help the imagine... ( where is the collection of all of the house and high-importance events and experiences it good... That “ work ” and those that feel wrong to the map of an individual floor included the...
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