Building or Decorating Your Home
Requires House Plans
by: Martin Smith
There are some things to consider when
creating plans for your home. There are two situations that call for
plans or blue prints, either you are building a new home or decorating
your present home. The types of plans required for either situation will
vary depending on the extent of your project.
When building a new home, there are
several things you will want to consider carefully. The most obvious is
where you are going to build your house. The climate will affect where
you build. You wouldn’t build an icehouse in the middle of the desert.
You will want to determine what material you will want to use. Brick,
wood, and cement are popular. In the southern states clay adobe houses
are the norm. In the north and other areas brick, wood, and stone are
options. The climate will influence this choice as well. In areas where
there is cold weather brick and cement are used because they absorb and
retain heat. In the south wood frame houses are built. The size of your
lot will determine the size and type of house you want. You couldn’t
build a mansion on say a quarter of an acre. On the other hand a one
bedroom, single floor home would look strange on a lot that is two acres
or bigger. Whether your home has a basement could be important and that
would depend on where you live.
If you are lucky to have a basement, it
can house the laundry room and your gym equipment or be a playroom/guest
room.
Now that you know where and what type of
climate you will be building in it is time to think about the plans.
Blueprints are or have been used to draw a linear picture of the house
as you see it. Now however there are computer programs that will allow
you to build your house in 3-D. There are also web sites online that
will also allow you to build your house and see it in 3-D. Not only that
but some sites will allow you to place your furniture. There are several
kinds of technical drawings that are used to create plans for a new
home. There are site plans that address coding issues, landscaping,
location specifics, drainage (land contours), trees, set backs, and
property lines. A floor plan is a design plan of the house, the layout
of the rooms, and where the windows and doors. Another type of plan is
building sections, which is a cross section of the house. It helps
determine any issues, visualize your finished house and floor plans
using section marks. Wall sections show the construction of one exterior
wall where sections are indicated with section marks. Exterior
Elevations include such features as porches and decks. They also show
furniture, window and door locations, eave heights and roofing. Interior
elevations show the lighting layout and ceiling conditions. Porches are
another very interesting option; they can be enclosed, go all the way
around the house. They can also be half-enclosed and half-open. They can
be reminders of times past. A huge porch reminds me of my aunt’s farm
years ago. Porches are great for extending family time and conversation
while still being protected from the weather.
Decisions to be made are the size of each
room, the number of rooms and the number of floors to be built. Will
there be a basement or a fireplace, and where is the house going to sit
on the lot. You could have a front yard or the house could be in the
front of the lot with a yard in the back. You could also put it right in
the center and have land all around.
The next consideration is whether you
will have a contractor draw up the plans which will be an expense, or
you can do them yourself. To do them yourself you will need a pencil or
pen, scissors, a measuring tape, and graph paper with 1/4-inch boxes.
You will draw rooms to scale; one box per
foot is good. Measure your rooms, doors, windows, heat and air cooling
appliances. Draw the outlines of the rooms according to scale.
Measure your furniture (you only need to
worry about length and width here) next and take another piece of graph
paper. Draw out lines of your furniture, label them and cut them out.
Use these pieces to set up the rooms. When you find an arrangement you
like, you can make a more permanent drawing. On another sheet of graph
paper draw a box for each wall. Scale your windows, doors, built-ins and
other features.
Picking a floor plan is a process of
answering some very important questions. Will this place be big enough
or too big in a few years? Does your design fit in with the houses in
the neighborhood? Does the design of the house fit in with the lot size
and shape? Will the windows provide the best view and what windows will
catch the sunlight in the morning and afternoon? Will changes need to be
made or can changes even be considered? Are the rooms that will be used
most of the time of adequate size? Expanding your house size could mean
you need to sacrifice amenities or storage space. Do you have specialty
rooms such as a craft room, an office, or a gym? An office can double as
a guestroom. The trend now is toward creating a family area where there
is room for each to do his/her own hobby or to be together watching
movies or playing games. When all the decisions are made and the plans
are all drawn you will be ready to build.
Suppose now, that you are purchasing an
already built home or renting an apartment. Plans can be done in these
situations as well. Most places will offer a floor plan for you to look
at with the measurements of the space in the rooms. If this is not
available you can draw your own plan.
You would need the same materials and the
plan is fixed, you are limited to what is already there. Draw the
outlines of each room according to scale. Take another sheet of graph
paper and draw the outlines of your furniture. Label them and cut them
out. You can move these pieces around till you find an arrangement you
like. You might be limited with your television set because the outside
antenna is in a certain spot.
Take another piece of graph paper and
draw the wall sections of each room noting the windows, doors, and any
heating or cooling appliance might be situated. You will have already
‘placed’ your furniture so you will have a good idea of what your new
home will look like. You can now decorate according to your tastes. In a
rental home however, you might not be able to change wall colors or in
rare cases hang pictures.
Planning for your home can be very
exciting. You could be buying new furniture but you might want to
consider the color of the carpets or the floors when you are choosing
your pieces. A blue couch on a brown carpet does not exactly match. When
planning for your home whether you buy or rent should be done carefully.
Keep in mind your preferences, your limitations and if you are building,
local zoning ordinances.
Martin Smith is a successful
freelance writer providing advice for home buyers and consumers on
purchasing a variety of unique house plans which includes cottage plans,
beach house plans, and more! His numerous articles provide a wonderfully
researched resource of interesting and relevant information.
http://www.1st-4-house-plans.com/ |
