More detailed floor plans with dimensions include “dimension strings” to locate windows, doors, walls and other architectural elements. Measurements - Size and Width, Furniture and Use Plan 137-252 boasts an “open to below” detail on the second level. From the second floor the plans will include a note that a space does not have a floor but is “open to below,” as shown here. The lower floor may show the ceiling height numerically with a dashed line indicating the perimeter of the taller space. Many new homes have entryways and “great rooms” with extra high ceilings. Key fixtures and appliances are pretty easy to spot.ĭesigners may include flooring materials in their floor plans to provide scale and help the viewer imagine how a room will feel. Similarly, a toilet placed too close to a vanity makes a bathroom difficult to use comfortably. The placement of a refrigerator in relation to the sink, oven and range can determine if a kitchen is comfortable or awkward. Skilled designers focus intently on locating kitchen and bath fixtures because they know that precise layout matters. Most floor plans show the location of sinks, toilets, and other critical fixtures. Plan 888-1 features stair detail next to the study.įurniture, Fixtures, Fittings, and Finishes Stairs above the “cut line” are shown with dashed lines. Where the stair rises three feet above the floor it is cut with a diagonal line.
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).
Swinging windows (casements) may show a line or an arc to indicate the direction that the window opens. Windows are breaks in walls crossed by thin lines showing the glass and the frame.
The increasingly popular sliding or “barn” doors (for barn door ideas, HGTV has got you covered) are drawn partially open alongside a wall. Pocket door floor plans are drawn as thin rectangles that disappear into walls. You can see in the drawing below that door floor plans are drawn as thin rectangles and may include an arc to indicate the swing direction.
Plan 497-21 (above) features floor plan details showing doors, walls and windows. Breaks in walls indicate doors, windows and openings between rooms. Walls are represented by parallel lines and may be solid or filled with a pattern. The walls are the strongest visual elements in a floor plan. Walls, Windows, and Doors - Plan Symbols and Features For the most part, this article refers to design drawings. “Working drawings” or “construction drawings” contain much more information: they are used to build the home. “Design drawings” are floor plans that include a modest amount of information and are created to communicate a home design to non-professionals. The simplest way to understand a floor plan is to imagine looking down on a doll house without its roof. 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.Ī “Floor Plan” refers to the map of an individual floor. Today, they still contain “building instructions” in the form of multiple pages of drawings, but most house plan are delivered as digital files and can be viewed on a screen or printed out onto regular paper for review, to get bids, or to submit for permits.Ī plan “set” is the collection of all of the various individual pages that describe the house. 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.įloor plans used to be called “blueprints.” They came in a roll and included all of the details required to build (or change) a home. Experienced designers, builders, and home enthusiasts are regularly surprised by how different a finished home feels from what they imagined.Ĭlick here to explore our collection of best-selling floor plans. But the language of floor plans can be subtle. 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). 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.