{"id":2777,"date":"2020-09-29T17:08:30","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T21:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paradisedevelopments.com\/blog\/?p=2777"},"modified":"2023-08-24T12:12:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T16:12:55","slug":"how-to-read-floor-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paradisedevelopments.com\/blog\/communities\/how-to-read-floor-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Read Floor Plans for Your New Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some people can tell whether they\u2019ll like a house just by reviewing its floor plans. Understanding how to read architectural drawings can be advantageous to home-buyers, especially when it comes to purchasing pre-construction homes<\/a>. Since you won\u2019t be able to attend an open house or appointed viewing, for a house that doesn\u2019t yet exist, it would benefit you greatly to be able to read the floor plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, let\u2019s say you\u2019re planning on buying a resale home. It\u2019s still good to know how to read floor plan measurements. Although house tours are a great way to get a feel of the layout of the place, you can make the experience even more informative for yourself by studying the floor plans prior to the house tour. It\u2019s helpful to have a general understanding of what you\u2019ll be walking into. That way, you\u2019ll be able to better compare your actual visit to your expectations. Plus, we just so happen to be living through a pandemic at the moment, and several house tours have been shifted online<\/a>. This makes it even more valuable for you to be able to read floor plans. So, without further ado, let\u2019s help you learn how to read architectural drawings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is a Floor Plan?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A floor plan, not to be confused with a site plan<\/a>, is exactly as it sounds. It\u2019s the architectural plan for a specific floor within a building. For example, if you were to ask to see the floor plans of a three-story house, you would receive three pages; one for each floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A floor plan focuses entirely on the building itself; the drawing illustrates the positions of walls, doors, windows, balconies, patios, and stairs. Permanent installations, such as sinks, appliances, cabinets, kitchen islands, and bathroom attachments, are typically shown on a floor plan as well. 
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Floor Plan With Dimensions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dimensions of a floor plan typically show the foundation of a building. This includes the walls, windows, and doorways of a house that divides the space into separate rooms. Many measurements are displayed on floor plans to provide builders with proper construction information and to give home-buyers a sense of how space is going to be laid out. Usually, the floor plans you\u2019ll see as the home buyer will have easy to follow guidelines of the dimensions. There should be clear lines, indicating the length of measurement between two points.
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Rooms are measured in feet and inches, and width and length. For instance, if you see 15\u2019 x 12\u2019 within the walls of a room on a floor plan, it means that the room is 15 feet wide (horizontal) and 12 feet long (vertical).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stairs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While many of the features on a floor plan are pretty self-explanatory, stairs and stairways can be a little tricky if you don\u2019t understand how the information is presented on a floor plan. The stairs are generally drawn in resemblance of a 2D ladder lying flat on the paper, or rather, sequential rectangles. 
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Depending on which level of the house you\u2019re looking at, there will be an arrow drawn through the middle of the staircase, indicating whether it leads to the floor above or below. At the point where the stairway reaches 3 feet in height from the ground, you\u2019ll see a diagonal line bisecting the drawing. The section of the staircase that is above the line of separation will be represented with dotted lines. Sometimes you\u2019ll find a label or acronym next to the arrow by the stairs to provide clarity on the direction of the staircase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permanent Fixtures and Furniture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Appliances such as the refrigerator, stove, washer and dryer, and so on, are generally fairly easy to spot on a floor plan. The same goes for bathroom fixtures. Based on their recognizable shapes and their location in relation to other fixtures within the room, which is labeled for the reader\u2019s convenience, it\u2019s not hard to identify individual fixtures. Typically, each item on the floor plan drawing will be accompanied by an acronym in its centre to represent the name of the fixture. 
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Sometimes general furniture will be shown on floor plans as well to give home-buyers an idea of what could be done with space. It\u2019s a nice way to help visualize what the place can become once it has been furnished. General furniture could be dining room tables, beds, and nightstands, sofas and couches, television sets, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Does \u2018Open to Below\u2019 Mean?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An entrance hall is a great example of an area where you might see an \u2018open to below\u2019 label on the floor plan. The large space of the hall generally has a high ceiling, which reaches the height of the house at its top floor. This means you\u2019ll likely be able to view the floor above from where you are on the first floor.
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In circumstances like this, you\u2019ll see the term \u2018open to below\u2019 on the floor plan. It makes a lot of sense once you understand what it means. The concept is to show that the space drawn on the floor plan is empty, which will allow you to see through to the floor below. Referring back to the entrance hall example; if you look at the floor plan for the second floor, it will show \u2018open to below\u2019 over the main entrance area from downstairs. While on the first floor, the entrance hall will show measurements of the high ceilings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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