Renovating a home can come with many homeowner benefits and opportunities. From complete design control to material discounts, the final product proves to be certainly worth the time and effort put into the planning and construction processes. Surprisingly, one of the most time consuming stages of the planning process may just be decoding the bewildering language in home blueprints. You see, blueprints and floor plans have their own sort of foreign language. Through various symbols, scribbles, and lines, architects lay out their vision for the home after renovations are complete—a vision that can sometimes get pretty confusing. But we’re here to teach you how to read any basic home blueprint or floor plan.
Basically, depending on the renovation project you’re working on, the two-dimensional plan will tell you each room’s size, layout, circulation pattern, and location of windows, doors and stairs. You should begin your blueprint or floor plan tour by locating the front door of the house. From there, you can follow the entrance hallway, leading from the front to the back of the home, and get a feel of how the property will pan-out.
As you follow the entrance hallway, study each renovated or added room you come across. Make sure to pay attention to the numbers listed in each room. Whether they are listed as “15 by 15” or have “15” noted on each wall, these numbers will tell you the room’s overall dimensions. It may be helpful to pull out a tape measure as you review each room, as this will prevent you from building rooms that are too small or too big for your liking.
Once you’ve approved the size of the renovated or added rooms, take a look at the placement of each added door and window. If you are looking at a blueprint, you’ll notice symbols drawn over each window’s location. These will tell you whether the window is single or double hung, which means the window will either open from the bottom (single hung) or open from the top (double hung). Blueprint doors are drawn in a similar manner. One line between two walls indicates a sliding door, while one line touching only one wall designates a pocket door. Bi-fold doors are shown as two unconnected arcs and French doors are presented as two even larger arcs that do not connect. When renovating, the location of windows and doors that exist should play a major factor in how the new design can be applied. Greater expenses can be incurred with the more windows and doors that either need to be moved or covered up.
As you study the layout of each room, make sure you also locate any added or renovated fireplace(s). Most architects display this design with a rectangle extending from the wall. When you find this feature in the blueprint or floor plan, make sure its location provides the most usable space for the room. This will ensure that you make the most out of the room!
When you’ve completely reviewed the bottom floor, locate the stairs (if applicable) to begin your tour of the upstairs renovations. They will be drawn as a set of parallel lines with an arrow showing their direction. You’ll know once you’ve reached the next floor because it will be labeled something like “open to below,” whereas the bottom floor will be marked with dashed lines. Review each renovated room as you did the first floor.
Overall, the ability to read a floor plan or blueprint will help save you tons of time throughout the renovation’s planning process. For help financing these renovation projects, contact one of our mortgage specialists or download the Introduction to Renovation Loans today.
