House plan drawing guides

How to draw a plan properly, and the numbers you need while you do it. Everything here is written to be used with a tape measure in your other hand.

How to draw a house plan to scale

The whole process in order: what to measure before you draw anything, how to choose a scale, why the outside walls come first, and how to print so a ruler on the paper still reads true. Start here if you have never drawn a plan before.

Standard door and window sizes

The sizes to use when you are designing rather than recording — door widths by room, window sizes and sill heights, the difference between the leaf and the structural opening, and how openings are marked and scheduled so a joiner can price them.

Stair dimensions: riser, going and headroom

A staircase is the one part of a plan you cannot draw by eye. The riser and going rules, comfortable dimensions, a worked example for a 9 ft floor-to-floor height, and what turning the stair costs you in floor space.

Floor plan symbols and what they mean

Walls and line weights, door swings, window types, stairs, bathroom and kitchen fixtures, dimensions and section marks — the shorthand a plan is written in.

How to read a floor plan

The order a designer reads one in: scale and north first, then the footprint, then walking the circulation — and the layout faults that never show up in a room label.

What scale is a house plan drawn at?

The standard architectural scales in imperial and metric, how to choose one for your sheet size, and how to print so a ruler on the paper still reads true.

Standard room sizes

Bedrooms sized from the bed outward, living and dining rooms, kitchen aisles and islands, bathrooms, corridors and garages — with the furniture clearances behind each figure.

Wall thickness on a floor plan

Standard external and internal thicknesses, how to spot a load-bearing wall on a drawing, and whether to dimension to faces, centre lines or structure.