Reading a Floor Plan

Hooker Furniture’s Hill Country Collection

A floor plan – also known simply as the plan – is a common architectural drawing. All sorts of professionals, from architects, builders, appraisers, to realtors use this drawing. This is used probably because it is the one drawing that tells a lot about the house from the kind of house that will be built, to what size it would become.

The floor plan also shows area, circulation pattern, structure, doors and window locations, stair situation and room layouts.

Floor plans also reveal functional characteristics yet they lack the home’s eventual feel. No matter, you have to remember that you are reading on a third dimension but it’s just a single view of the house still.

The Overall Plan

This is a flattened and a two-dimensional representation of the house’s floor level. Every floor is shown as are the other parts of the house such as the windows, doors, walls, stairs, even furniture and plumbing fixtures.

Each of the rooms is labeled so you would have no difficulty in understanding the relationship of each room to the adjacent one. You will also be shown how to get from one room to the next.

The Legend

Each plan has a legend. This should indicate the kind of project that is being done and which floor the plan has been made for. The legend also indicates the scale (e.g. ¼ inch equals a foot, etc.).

The scale could sometimes be written out or at times a graphic scale is provided. The latter is useful as the drawings become smaller or when they are enlarged or otherwise changed.

The legend also often includes a north arrow. Other items that could be included are the owner’s name(s), the address of the project, designers’ and architect’s names.

Interior Elevations and Walls

Walls are an important architectural feature whether they are indoors or outdoors. The thickness is always indicated on the plan. These are drawn as parallel lines with breaks.

The overall floor plan generally scales at ¼ inch is equal to a foot though certain rooms could be drawn at a bigger scale, say, ½ inch to a foot.

Interior elevations

It is always a great idea to have the interior elevations drawn. While cabinetry could be drawn as a part of the plan, their height, style or type is not indicated. Only the interior elevation would provide this information.

Doors and Windows

Are also important elements that are indicated on floor plans. Every window and door is given a size and location. Windows are shown with a straight perpendicular line to the wall. An arc also connects this line to the wall.

The door is also shown in the same manner so you get to realize which way it would open to once it is constructed.

A French or double door is drawn as a double arc and line. These are just two single doors that have been joined together, though. Just like a single door, the door’s swing direction is also indicated.

The Fireplace

This is another architectural feature that can be shown on a floor plan. This is an outer rectangle which indicates the fireplace’s exterior wall. The inner rectangle, on the other hand, indicates the firebox itself. The plan will also tell if the fireplace is going to be centered inside the room or if it will be placed between two windows.

The Stairway

Stairs take up a large amount of floor space and they will have an effect on the headroom. It is, therefore, important to show where the stair will be specifically located. They are drawn as a series of lines that are parallel to each other. Staircases also show an arrow as well as a note which indicates the direction of the travel.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2017 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Architectural Elements, Interior Design 101. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.