Drawing+a+Floorplan

Designing a Floorplan of Your Own
If after browsing through the Living Concepts website, you are unable to find a floor plan that fits the needs of your client, you may decide you want to design and draw your own floor plan. This page contains information that will be helpful for this process.

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 * You will need graph paper, scrap paper, a ruler, a pencil, and a good eraser.
 * Begin by using the scrap paper to sketch a general layout of the floors. Draw large bubbles to represent the general layout of where the rooms should be in relation to each other. Then using the same general shape, bubble additional floors. An example is shown below.
 * It is important to know some common/standard measurements for items you will need to draw:
 * Every bedroom must have a closet.Bedroom dimensions should be no smaller than 10' x 10'
 * Closets need to be at least 3’ deep and as long as you wish.
 * There must be at least 3’ to fit a door on a wall.
 * Hallways should be at least 4’ wide.
 * A bathroom should be at least 5’ x 8’.
 * Leave at least 4’ at the top and bottom of the stairs so that there is room for you to get on and off.
 * If you are unsure of how big a room should be, use the Living Concepts website to get an idea.
 * You will need to know the [|stair dimensions] for the sets of stairs in the ArchiCAD program.
 * Once you have the general layout of the rooms, you need to think about the dimensions. Begin with the first floor. Remember that the dimensions need to "make sense" and if you are unsure of the appropriate dimensions, look at floor plans on the Living Concepts website to get a general idea.[[image:dimensions1stfloor.jpg width="320" height="238"]]
 * Now transfer the room dimensions on the first floor to actual rooms, drawn to scale, on a piece of graph paper. Begin in the lower left corner, and move the right and up.
 * The next step is to create additional levels. Here are some notes about this:
 * It must be the same shape or smaller than the first floor. There are three ways to do this:
 * Copy the second floor exactly the same as your first floor on a separate sheet of graph paper.
 * Copy the second floor just like the first floor BUT leave off the garage.
 * Modify the second floor so that it is similar in shape, but smaller. See the example below. The image on the left is the first floor; the image on the right represents the second floor. The shaded portions are the sections of the floor plan that will NOT be on the second floor. [[image:2ndflexample.jpg width="421" height="180"]]
 * IMPORTANT: The stairs **MUST** be drawn in the **same exact spot** on each level with the exact same dimensions. It is important to mark off the top and bottom.
 * The following images are the first and second floor of a house drawn to scale. Notice the following:
 * The "final product" differs slightly from the original bubble diagram. This is fine. It is part of the design process to plan things out, see how they work, and adjust accordingly.
 * The garage and mudroom space are not used on the second floor.
 * The deck space is also not used on the second floor.
 * The "Open to Below" space is directly over the living room and entrance space.