Measure the Existing

• 1). Measure the outside of the house for the overall width and length of the house and for its general perimeter shape.
  
  
• 2). You will need to measure your existing rooms. Take an overall measurement of each room.
  
  
• 3). Draw the location of each room on a piece of paper to scale using the architectural scale and triangles. Most residential floor plans are drawn at 1/4-inch or 1/8-inch scale.
  
  
• 4). Measure and locate the windows and doors.
  
  
• 5). Draw the windows and doors on the floor plan for each room to scale using the architectural scale and triangles.
  
  

Site Plan

• 1). Measure the existing lot size using your tape measure. A 50-foot or greater tape measure is very helpful for this.
  
  
• 2). Draw the lot size and shape on a piece of paper to the same architectural scale you drew the floor plan on.
  
  
• 3). Draw the building foot print or the outline of the house inside the lot that you just drew.
  
  
• 4). Locate the floor plan by taking measurements of the house from the property lines to help you locate the corners of the house on the lot.
  
  
• 5). Locate all the trees, outside landscape, and hardscape areas around your house.
  
  

Floor Plan Details

• 1). Measure the size and location of any existing cabinets.
  
  
• 2). Draw the existing cabinets on the floor plan in the rooms where they are located to the same architectural scale as the floor plan.
  
  
• 3). Use the bathroom template and house template to help you draw the standard symbols and sizes of fixtures. Make sure you are using the right size template that matches your floor plan's architectural scale.
  
  

Title Block

• 1). Draw a title block around the piece of paper that has your floor plan.
  
  
• 2). Label each room.
  
  
• 3). Dimension the overall size of the house and the overall dimensions of the rooms.
  
  
• 4). Dimension the location of the centerline of the windows and doors.
  
  
• 5). Dimension the location of the interior walls and their lengths.