How to Read a Floor Plan with Dimensions

When you set about the monumental task of having a new home built, one of the first steps in the process is the actual designing of your floor plan. After discussing your ideas with your architect or contractor, they will return with a design drawing. This initial image, typically delivered electronically, is meant to convey an overall sense of what the house will look like. The design drawing is often much more simplistic than later versions of the floor plan, since its primary purpose is to be readable to people who aren’t in the construction industry.
That said, the design drawing is an ideal place to start when learning how to read a floor plan in Oklahoma City, OK. Here’s a good primer.

Walls

The most prominent aspect of any floor plan are the walls, perhaps for a good reason. The walls are most commonly rendered as solid black lines. When you see gaps in these black lines, they indicate doors or windows. If you see a gap in a wall that is filled in with broken lines and empty space, this indicates an open entryway into a room.

Doors and windows

How do you tell the difference between a door and a window? A door is drawn on your floor plan as two lines—one end is joined in a right angle, the other is connected by a parabolic arc. The arc indicates which direction the door will swing when it’s installed.
Windows are often represented by a gap in a wall that is filled in with diagonal lines (to represent the glass).

Stairs

Got a two-story house? You can pinpoint the location of your staircase by looking for a set of thin rectangles stacked side by side. There is often an arrow indicating which direction the stairs will run, as well. In these cases, the head of the arrow is the top of the stairs, and the tail of the arrow is the bottom.

Dimensions

When you’re wondering how to read a floor plan with dimensions in Oklahoma City, OK, one of the most pressing factors is the size of each room. After all, squares on a page only say so much. You need to be able to gauge real distance. Fortunately, every room on your floor plan should be listed. Underneath the name of the floor plan, you should see clear-cut square footage of the space in question.

Fixtures

Often, design drawings take the extra step of including certain critical fixtures, like toilets, countertops and even furniture, to give you a better idea of how things will fit into each room.

Your all-in-one builder

Want to know more about how to read a floor plan in Oklahoma City, OK? At Perry House Plans, we take great care to educate all of our valued clients as we work alongside each other to build incredible custom homes. From design to construction and beyond, our talented team of contractors is ready to make your dream a reality.
There’s a reason we’ve been in the business since 1959. Give us a call or visit us online today to find out why.

Categorised in: Home Design, Home Foundation