How to Draw a Garage Plan

Drawing a garage plan, also called a garage “floorplan,” is surprisingly easy

Drawing a garage plan, also called a garage floor plan, is surprisingly easy. Floorplans consist mostly of rectangles, which you use to divide up the space inside the structure you want to build. A key thing to remember is what a floor plan actually represents: it a picture of the the structure you are planning to build, as seen from above.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil and paper
• Eraser
• Ruler

Instructions

1. Draw with a ruler, on a plain piece of 8 1/2-by-11-inch paper, a line seven inches long parallel to the paper’s short side, near its left edge. This line represents the top view of one of the exterior walls of your garage.

2. Lightly draw a line perpendicular to the vertical line, extending the line right from the vertical line’s lower left point.

3. Measure 13/16 of an inch from along the new line, from its left point moving right. Place a mark there with the numeral 1. Measure 1 7/8 of an inch moving right from mark 1. Make a second mark and label it with the numeral 2. Measure another 13/16 of an inch moving right from mark 2, make a third mark, and label it with numeral 3. You have divided the interior of the garage for a single car. If you want the car to house more cars, continue to the next step. Otherwise, skip to the second sentence in step 5.

4. Continue marking off the garage’s interior for the second and subsequent cars as follows: make two more marks for the next car. Make the first of the two marks 1 7/8 of an inch from the right of the previous mark (which will be mark 3 for the second car.) Make the second of the two marks 13/16 right of the mark you just made.

5. Repeat step 4 for each additional car you want the garage to house. When you are finished, draw another vertical line seven inches long upward from the last mark you made. Then connect the top point of the line you just made with the top point of the first vertical line you made.

6. Write the word “car" above each of the segments that measures 1 7/8 inches. This indicates where the cars will go in the garage.

7. Erase each of the 1 7/8-inch segments. This replaces a portion of the garage’s wall with an opening to allow the car to enter.

8. Add doors wherever you want within the remaining three edges of the garage as follows: erase a 7/16-inch portion at the place you want a door. Then draw a 7/16-inch line perpendicular to the line you erased, extending from either end of the doorway.

9. Form a window using the same method you used to form a door. However, draw two very short line segments perpendicular to and sandwiching the window gap, instead of the 7/16-inch line for the door.

10. Write the following in any clear space on the paper: “1 inch equals 54 and 7/8 inches.” This sentence allows you to compute the actual size of any element of your plan. For example, the 7 inch-long segments will actually measure 7 times 54 and 7/8 inches equals 384 inches, or 32 feet.

References

• “Draw Your Own House Plans”; Mike Wolverton; 1983