How To Draw House Plans To Scale

Scale for Floor Plans

Past Meg Escott

Understanding scale for floor plans is a really useful skill when you lot're building or remodeling your home.

Scale drawings are an indispensable office of your building or remodeling home projection. You'll need to be able to read them to understand and give your approval for the blueprint of your new home.

The focus of this folio is on using scale to read floor plans. Bank check out how to depict floor plans for a discussion on using calibration if you're drawing your own floor program.

scale for floor plans

This folio forms office of the how to read business firm plans series.

On this page we'll cover...

What units of measure is my flooring plan using?
What scale is my floor program using?
Press your floor plan to the correct scale
Figure out the existent size of something on your floor program

Earlier nosotros go started on scale for floor plans, we demand first to talk about units.

What units of measure is my flooring program using?

The first thing to figure out is if the scale on your flooring plan relates to feet and inches (the regal system) or relates to millimeters, centimeters and meters (the metric system).

This unremarkably depends on the region of your dwelling house. If you're in the US you lot're likely to be working in the imperial organisation. If you lot're in the UK, Republic of ireland or Commonwealth of australia, it's probably the metric system. Canada is a scrap of a mix but usually metric.

Before you become whatsoever farther, figure out what system, imperial or metric, your drawings are using. Look to run across what units the dimensions on the floor plan are marked in.

What scale is my floor plan using?

If your floor programme has a title block, the scale should be indicated there. It should tell you what the scale is for a detail paper size.

The scale for floor plans can exist shown in 2 different ways:

As equivalent measurements, eg i/8" = 1' or 1cm = 1m, "an eighth of an inch represents 1 human foot" or "1cm represents 1m"
Equally a ratio eg 1:96 or 1:100, "one to xl eight" or "ane to one hundred"

scale for floor plans imperial scale 1:96 This title cake is saying the drawing is to scale 1:96 when printed on Arch Due east paper

scale for floor plans metric scale 1:100 This title cake is saying the drawing is to scale 1:100 when printed on A1 paper

Common scales for imperial floor plans (feet and inches)

ane/4 inch to a foot which means 1 inch on the paper represents 48 inches in real size (ane:48).
1/eight inch to a foot which means one inch on the paper represents 96 inches in real size (1:96).
one/16 inch to a human foot which means 1 inch on the paper represents 192 inches in real size (1:192).

Mutual scales for metric floor plans (mm, cm, thousand)

2cm to 1m which means 2cm on the paper represents 100cm (or 1m) in existent size (i:50).
1cm to 1m which means 1cm on the paper represents 1oocm (or 1m) in real size (1:100).
1cm to 2m which ways 1cm on the newspaper represents 200cm (or 2m) in real size (1:200).

Architects tend to work in millimeters, simply this doesn't change the pregnant of the scales to a higher place. For example, using the scale i:100, proverb 1mm represents 100mm is the same as saying 1cm represents 100cm.

No scale in the title cake? Await for a calibration bar

If there's no title cake, another way to find the scale for floor plans is to await for a scale bar.

scale for floor plans scale bars Examples of scale bars. Top is majestic, bottom is metric.

Working out the calibration from an royal scale bar

Here's what you need to do to work out the scale from the scale bar:

Measure the length of the scale bar - we're looking at the pinnacle bar and let'south say it measures 3 three/4 inches.

This tells us that 3 3/4 inches (or 3.75 inches) represents 30 foot (the length of the bar).

30 pes = xxx x 12 = 360 inches.

So we now know that 3.75 inches represents 360 inches.

So 1 inch represents (360 / 3.75) = 96 inches.

You can see above that we demand to convert fractions of inches into decimals. To brand that a chip easier I've written them out here.

Working out the calibration from a metric scale bar

Measure the length of the calibration bar - for the lesser bar, let's say information technology measures 10cm.

This tells us that 10cm represents 10m.

So 1 cm represents (10 / 10) = 1m.

Much simpler for the metric organization!

What if at that place'south no calibration for the floor plan?

If yous're looking at a flooring plan with no calibration or dimensions marked hither'south a play a trick on. If the kitchen is marked in the floor plan, a standard kitchen countertop is 2ft or 60cm deep. So if yous measure how deep the countertop is on the programme, that'due south what 2ft or 60cm is equivalent to.

To calculate what 1ft in existent life is on the plan, divide the kitchen countertop measurement on the plan by 2.

To calculate what 1m in existent life is on the plan, carve up the kitchen countertop measurement by 60, then multiply past 100.

This volition give yous a crude idea of the dimensions and scale that you're dealing with on the flooring plan.

Printing your floor plan to the correct calibration

When you're reading a floor plan yous might be able to get most of what you want to know past looking at the flooring plan on screen.

If you lot want to take accurate measurements your all-time bet is to get a print out of your floor plan. If yous're looking at drawings that are meant to be printed on big format paper, this can pose a problem because it'south unlikely yous've got easy access to a large format printer.

Here's a few options for getting a impress out of your floor plan.

Enquire your builder or design professional to provide you with a set of drawings printed out.
Send your drawings to a printer/graphics store - check that they have a printer big enough to handle the paper size earlier you send the files.
Print out a section of the floor plan to scale onto a size of paper that's convenient for the printer y'all have access to. Print a department of a pdf floor plan to scale.

Figure out the existent size of something on a floor plan

OK, and then you know what units you're working in, and you know what the scale for floor plans is, you lot're gear up to use scale conversion to figure out the existent life size of something on your floor program.

In that location are two options for this:

Using a simple ruler and doing a bit of maths.
Using an architectural scale

Scale conversions

Permit's practice a few examples of scale conversions.

Scale for flooring plans imperial conversion instance...

Allow's say we're looking at a floor program and the scale is 1:48.

We measure out the length and width of the open plan living infinite on the floor plan.

Flooring programme length = 9 and i/8th inches or ix.125 inches
Floor plan width = 3 and 1/8th inches or 3.125 inches

Existent size length = (iii.125 x 48) = 150 inches or 12 foot 6 inches
Existent size width = (9.125 x 48) = 438 inches or 36 foot 6 inches

You might observe this table to convert fractions of inches to decimals useful.

Pinnacle tip

Conversion in imperial scales takes quite a few taps on a calculator, and it's non much meliorate on the bulk of online scale converters. I've set upwards some super quick, minimum click imperial scale converters that are available to HPH members. Find out how to bring together.

Calibration for flooring plans metric conversion example...

Let'southward say we're looking at a flooring plan and the scale is 1:fifty.

We measure the length and width of the bedroom on the floor programme.

Floor program length and width (square room) = 6.8cm

Real size length and width = (6.8 10 50) = 340cm or 3.4m

Bank check that the scale conversion makes sense

Once you've done a scale conversion adding simply have a think to make sure information technology makes sense. Is your reply roughly what you expected information technology to be?

Using an architectural calibration

Let'southward have a look at how to measure on a floor plan using an architectural calibration.

The beauty of an using an architects calibration to read scale for floor plans is that yous don't demand to practise calculations to measure dimensions on your floor plan.

There's a peachy video to explain how to employ an architect'south scale...

A tip for using your builder'south scale

Architect's scales have several scales and if you put your architects scale down it can exist piece of cake to lose track of where the scale you're using is.

Try putting a clip on your scale with a piece of newspaper with an pointer towards the cipher of the calibration you're using. This makes it very quick to become right back to where you need to be with your architects scale.

how to read floor plans architectural scale with clip

Yous can see how this clip is pointing towards the zilch on the ane/4 inch to i foot scale.

how to read floor plans architectural scale with clip qaurter inch scale

Length in inches	Decimal equivalent
1/4 inch	0.25
2/4 inch (same equally i/ii inch)	0.5
3/4 inch	0.75

Length in inches	Decimal equivalent
ane/eight inch	0.25
2/8 inch (aforementioned equally 1/4 inch)	0.25
3/eight inch	0.375
4/viii inch (aforementioned as ane/ii inch)	0.5
5/eight inch	0.625
half-dozen/viii inch (aforementioned as 3/4 inch)	0.75
vii/eight inch	0.875

Length in inches	Decimal equivalent
1/sixteen inch	0.0625
2/16 inch (aforementioned as one/eight inch)	0.125
3/16 inch	0.1875
4/16 inch (same equally 1/iv inch)	0.25
5/16 inch	0.3125
6/16 inch (same as three/8 inch)	0.375
vii/16 inch	0.4375
8/16 inch (same every bit 1/2 inch)	0.5
9/16 inch	0.5625
10/16 inch (same equally five/viii inch)	0.625
11/16 inch	0.6825
12/16 inch (same as three/4 inch)	0.75
13/16 inch	0.8125
fourteen/16 inch (same equally vii/8 inch)	0.875
xv/16 inch	0.9375