Scale Drawing and Floor Plan

Calibration for Floor Plans

Past Meg Escott

Understanding calibration for flooring plans is a really useful skill when you're building or remodeling your home.

Scale drawings are an indispensable part of your edifice or remodeling home project. You'll need to be able to read them to understand and requite your approval for the design of your new home.

The focus of this page is on using scale to read floor plans. Cheque out how to depict floor plans for a give-and-take on using scale if you're drawing your own floor programme.

scale for floor plans

This page forms part of the how to read house plans serial.

On this page nosotros'll cover...

What units of measure out is my floor plan using?
What calibration is my floor plan using?
Printing your floor program to the correct scale
Figure out the real size of something on your floor plan

Before nosotros get started on scale for floor plans, we need first to talk nigh units.

What units of measure is my floor plan using?

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

This usually depends on the region of your habitation. If yous're in the U.s. you lot're likely to be working in the imperial system. If yous're in the U.k., Ireland or Australia, information technology's probably the metric system. Canada is a scrap of a mix simply usually metric.

Before you become whatsoever farther, effigy out what organisation, imperial or metric, your drawings are using. Await to see what units the dimensions on the flooring plan are marked in.

What scale is my flooring plan using?

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

The calibration for flooring plans tin can exist shown in two different means:

Equally equivalent measurements, eg ane/8" = 1' or 1cm = 1m, "an 8th of an inch represents 1 foot" or "1cm represents 1m"
As a ratio eg ane:96 or 1:100, "one to 40 eight" or "1 to 1 hundred"

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

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

Common scales for majestic flooring plans (feet and inches)

ane/4 inch to a foot which ways 1 inch on the paper represents 48 inches in existent size (1:48).
1/8 inch to a foot which means i inch on the paper represents 96 inches in real size (one:96).
1/16 inch to a foot which means 1 inch on the paper represents 192 inches in real size (i:192).

Common scales for metric floor plans (mm, cm, yard)

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

Architects tend to work in millimeters, only this doesn't change the meaning of the scales above. For example, using the calibration 1:100, maxim 1mm represents 100mm is the same equally saying 1cm represents 100cm.

No scale in the championship block? Look for a calibration bar

If there's no championship block, another way to find the scale for floor plans is to wait for a scale bar.

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

Working out the calibration from an imperial scale bar

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

Measure the length of the scale bar - nosotros're looking at the meridian bar and let'south say information technology measures iii 3/four inches.

This tells us that 3 three/4 inches (or three.75 inches) represents 30 foot (the length of the bar).

30 foot = thirty x 12 = 360 inches.

So we now know that 3.75 inches represents 360 inches.

And so 1 inch represents (360 / three.75) = 96 inches.

You tin meet above that we need to catechumen fractions of inches into decimals. To brand that a bit easier I've written them out here.

Working out the scale from a metric scale bar

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

This tells united states of america that 10cm represents 10m.

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

Much simpler for the metric system!

What if there's no scale for the flooring plan?

If you lot're looking at a floor plan with no calibration or dimensions marked hither's a fob. If the kitchen is marked in the floor programme, a standard kitchen countertop is 2ft or 60cm deep. Then if you measure how deep the countertop is on the plan, that'due south what 2ft or 60cm is equivalent to.

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

To calculate what 1m in real life is on the plan, divide the kitchen countertop measurement by 60, then multiply by 100.

This will give yous a rough thought of the dimensions and calibration that you're dealing with on the floor program.

Printing your floor plan to the correct calibration

When y'all're reading a floor plan you might be able to get about of what you desire to know by looking at the floor programme on screen.

If you lot want to take authentic measurements your best bet is to get a print out of your flooring programme. If you're looking at drawings that are meant to be printed on large format paper, this tin pose a problem because it's unlikely you lot've got easy access to a large format printer.

Hither's a few options for getting a impress out of your floor programme.

Ask your architect or design professional to provide you with a gear up of drawings printed out.
Transport your drawings to a printer/graphics store - check that they accept a printer big enough to handle the paper size before you send the files.
Print out a section of the floor programme to scale onto a size of paper that'south convenient for the printer you lot have access to. Print a section of a pdf flooring programme to scale.

Figure out the existent size of something on a floor programme

OK, then you know what units yous're working in, and yous know what the scale for floor plans is, yous're prepare to use scale conversion to effigy out the existent life size of something on your floor plan.

There are ii options for this:

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

Scale conversions

Allow's practice a few examples of scale conversions.

Calibration for floor plans imperial conversion example...

Permit'due south say nosotros're looking at a floor plan and the calibration is 1:48.

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

Floor plan length = 9 and 1/8th inches or 9.125 inches
Floor plan width = iii and i/eighth inches or iii.125 inches

Real size length = (3.125 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 find this table to convert fractions of inches to decimals useful.

Top tip

Conversion in royal scales takes quite a few taps on a calculator, and it'south not much improve on the majority of online scale converters. I've set up up some super quick, minimum click imperial scale converters that are available to HPH members. Discover out how to join.

Calibration for floor plans metric conversion case...

Let's say nosotros're looking at a flooring plan and the calibration is 1:l.

We measure the length and width of the bedroom on the flooring plan.

Flooring program length and width (foursquare room) = half dozen.8cm

Real size length and width = (6.8 x 50) = 340cm or iii.4m

Check that the scale conversion makes sense

Once you lot've done a scale conversion calculation only have a think to brand sure it makes sense. Is your answer roughly what y'all expected it to be?

Using an architectural scale

Let's accept a await at how to measure out on a floor plan using an architectural scale.

The beauty of an using an architects calibration to read scale for floor plans is that you don't need to practise calculations to mensurate dimensions on your flooring plan.

There's a keen video to explain how to utilise an architect's calibration...

A tip for using your architect's scale

Architect's scales accept several scales and if you put your architects scale downwardly information technology tin can be easy to lose rail of where the scale you're using is.

Try putting a clip on your scale with a piece of paper with an pointer towards the zero of the scale you're using. This makes information technology very quick to get right back to where y'all need to be with your architects scale.

how to read floor plans architectural scale with clip

You can see how this clip is pointing towards the zip on the 1/4 inch to 1 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/iv inch (same as one/two inch)	0.5
iii/four inch	0.75

Length in inches	Decimal equivalent
1/eight inch	0.25
2/eight inch (same as one/four inch)	0.25
3/8 inch	0.375
four/8 inch (same equally 1/2 inch)	0.5
v/8 inch	0.625
vi/8 inch (same as three/iv inch)	0.75
seven/8 inch	0.875

Length in inches	Decimal equivalent
ane/xvi inch	0.0625
2/16 inch (same every bit ane/8 inch)	0.125
3/16 inch	0.1875
4/16 inch (same as one/4 inch)	0.25
5/16 inch	0.3125
vi/sixteen inch (same as 3/viii inch)	0.375
seven/sixteen inch	0.4375
8/16 inch (aforementioned as 1/2 inch)	0.5
9/16 inch	0.5625
10/16 inch (same as 5/8 inch)	0.625
11/16 inch	0.6825
12/sixteen inch (same as 3/4 inch)	0.75
13/16 inch	0.8125
14/16 inch (same equally 7/8 inch)	0.875
15/xvi inch	0.9375