How to Read a Floor Plan
The floor plan, or plan, is the most common of all architectural drawings. From builders to architects, Realtors to appraisers, everyone uses a floor plan. More than likely this is because the floor plan is the one drawing that tells us the most about a house. From the type of house to the size of the house, a floor plan reveals area, structure, circulation pattern, stair location, door and window locations, room layout and so much more.
While floor plans do reveal a lot about the functional characteristics of a house, they often lack the information needed to describe the home’s overall feel. This is because they can’t easily show us what is going on in the third dimension. So when looking at a floor plan, remember that you’re looking at just one view of the house and you’ll need to look at other views to really understand all of the house’s features.
Having said this, let’s look at what a floor plan shows.
The overall floor plan gives a flattened, two-dimensional bird’s-eye view of a floor level in the house. (Click this one to see an enlarged version.) Each room is shown, as are all the walls, doors, windows, stairs, walls, cabinets, appliances, plumbing fixtures and furniture.
The rooms are labeled so we know where each functional area is in relationship to another room. And we’ll be able to see how we can get from room to room. Because windows and doors are shown, we can see how each relates to the others and to other items in a room. For example, we’ll be able to see if doors and windows are aligned to create view corridors.
I find that the best way to understand a plan is to put yourself in it and “walk” around the home. As you take this virtual walk, record what you see, what you feel and how you get from room to room. Another way to understand the plan is to virtually put yourself in the middle of a room and record what you see as you look in at least four directions.
Every plan should include a legend that indicates what the project is and what floor the plan is of. The legend should also include the scale (1/4 inch equals 1 foot; 1/8 inch equals 1 foot etc.) at which the floor plan is drawn. Sometimes the scale can be written out, while other times a graphic scale, such as shown here, is provided. A graphic scale is useful when the drawing gets reduced or enlarged or otherwise altered so that putting a ruler on the plan to measure distances no longer helps.
A legend can also include a north arrow. In fact, it’s a drawing convention that the top right of the drawing page is always north.
Other items that can be included in a legend are the owners’ names, the project address, the architect and other designers’ names and the date (especially important with a construction drawing so revisions can be managed).
Walls have to be the most important architectural element shown in any plan. Whether exterior or interior, walls are the elements that form the rooms and the overall house. Sometimes thin, as in a 2-by-4 wood-frame house, and sometimes thicker, as in a masonry house, walls should always be drawn to indicate this thickness.
Walls are drawn as parallel lines with breaks where windows and doors occur. A particularly useful drawing convention that’s used in a remodeling or addition project is to show the existing walls with no fill between the parallel lines while showing the new walls with a pattern or dark color between the lines.
More about How to Read a Floor Plan
While floor plans do reveal a lot about the functional characteristics of a house, they often lack the information needed to describe the home’s overall feel. This is because they can’t easily show us what is going on in the third dimension. So when looking at a floor plan, remember that you’re looking at just one view of the house and you’ll need to look at other views to really understand all of the house’s features.
Having said this, let’s look at what a floor plan shows.
The overall floor plan gives a flattened, two-dimensional bird’s-eye view of a floor level in the house. (Click this one to see an enlarged version.) Each room is shown, as are all the walls, doors, windows, stairs, walls, cabinets, appliances, plumbing fixtures and furniture.
The rooms are labeled so we know where each functional area is in relationship to another room. And we’ll be able to see how we can get from room to room. Because windows and doors are shown, we can see how each relates to the others and to other items in a room. For example, we’ll be able to see if doors and windows are aligned to create view corridors.
I find that the best way to understand a plan is to put yourself in it and “walk” around the home. As you take this virtual walk, record what you see, what you feel and how you get from room to room. Another way to understand the plan is to virtually put yourself in the middle of a room and record what you see as you look in at least four directions.
Every plan should include a legend that indicates what the project is and what floor the plan is of. The legend should also include the scale (1/4 inch equals 1 foot; 1/8 inch equals 1 foot etc.) at which the floor plan is drawn. Sometimes the scale can be written out, while other times a graphic scale, such as shown here, is provided. A graphic scale is useful when the drawing gets reduced or enlarged or otherwise altered so that putting a ruler on the plan to measure distances no longer helps.
A legend can also include a north arrow. In fact, it’s a drawing convention that the top right of the drawing page is always north.
Other items that can be included in a legend are the owners’ names, the project address, the architect and other designers’ names and the date (especially important with a construction drawing so revisions can be managed).
Walls have to be the most important architectural element shown in any plan. Whether exterior or interior, walls are the elements that form the rooms and the overall house. Sometimes thin, as in a 2-by-4 wood-frame house, and sometimes thicker, as in a masonry house, walls should always be drawn to indicate this thickness.
Walls are drawn as parallel lines with breaks where windows and doors occur. A particularly useful drawing convention that’s used in a remodeling or addition project is to show the existing walls with no fill between the parallel lines while showing the new walls with a pattern or dark color between the lines.
More about How to Read a Floor Plan
