How to Create Your Own Building Plans

Building starts with a plan and drafting tools.

Building plans are the most important piece of information when building your structure. Typically, building plans are made up of site plans, floor plans, and elevations; plus framing plans, sections and details. These blueprints detail such things as types of materials to use, wiring, and the size of your structure. They denote exterior and interior walls; and where doors, windows and cabinets are installed. Create your own plan that you submit to an architect, who will produce a county-approved blueprint. Residential building plans begin with your idea and details that form as you work with tools. Then your design takes shape.

Things You'll Need

• Plain paper
• Pencil sharpener
• Graphite pencil
• Architect's scale
• Alphabet templates
• Symbol templates
• Dry cleaning pad
• Graphite brush

Instructions

Basic Building Plans

1. 

   Use an architects scale to draw with accuracy.

   Select one plain sheet of paper, 81/2 by 11-inches. Sharpen a drafters pencil to a point. Place your architects scale parallel on your paper and below the line you're drawing. Measure lines with your scale with 1/16-inch graduations. Every sixteenth of an inch equals one foot. Start from the zero, and count the full number of feet. Make a dash at right angles to the scale. Count your inches in the opposite direction of the zero, and mark with a dash. Draw important lines dark, and use light pressure on insignificant lines.

2. 

   Write your deminsions and letters on your building plan with templates.

   Write your dimensions and lettering in crisp, tight and easy to read print. Use capital letters and omit periods. Check your spelling carefully, and be sure your notes only clarify your drawing. Make notes sparingly, and set them in their own space.

3. 

   Indicate fixtures and materials with templates and partial symbolizing.

   Indicate materials and features with symbols on your building plan. Highlight material symbols with lightweight markings. Use a drafting template for difficult symbols. Draw bathroom fixtures, kitchen equipment and electrical symbols with approximate illustrations.

4. 

   Create your building plan on clean paper.

   Keep your building plans clean. Use a dry cleaning pad to remove pencil smudges and accidental marks. Brush loose graphite with a soft bristle graphite brush to prevent smearing.

5. 

   Create your exterior design to complement the interior.

   Create an exterior impression the reveals the spirit of your building's interior. Achieve unity and harmony by using repeating elements like windows. Make your entrance door your focal point. Line up the heads of windows and doors. Consider the wall areas around these areas, too. Make your fireplace chimney massive if you want this design element to add to your building's character. Take your building plan to an architect to produce a county-approved set of blueprints before you start building.

Tips & Warnings

• Measure your lines with accuracy. Always check the total length of your line to be sure your measurements are exact.

• Utilize space so areas serve dual purposes. Combine your living room and dining room to gain additional living space.

• Consider you day-to-day activities. Plan your building so major traffic routes are kept short.

• Recognize your need for common and private space. Access your common spaces from the foyer.

• Line up your series of broken lines, intersections, extensions, dimension lines and ends of dimension lines so they can be drawn quickly with one setting of your scale edge.

• Avoid using abbreviations. Wiping graphite with your hand will leave smears on your building plan.

References

• Real Estate For You: Learn To Draw House Plans
• House Plan Design: Custom Home Plans, custom house plans, house plan designers, home design servic

Resources

• DraftingTools:DraftingTools
• Floorplanner:Createfloorplans,houseplansandhomeplansonlinewithFloorplanner.com