How to Read Custom Home Plans
If you’re considering building a custom home, knowing how to read custom home plans can be highly beneficial.
A home plan is a set of two-dimensional drawings illustrating the building’s dimensions, materials, and components. Your home builders will use these blueprints throughout the building process and customize them according to your wants and needs. However, if you’re not an architect, they may be challenging to understand at a glance.
Read on to learn how to read custom home plans –
Types of Custom Home Blueprints & What’s Included
Your custom home builder will create blueprints detailing different aspects of your home design. The three main types of custom home blueprints you will see include:
- Plan view drawing: A blueprint showing the custom build on a horizontal plane, as if the designer was viewing it from above. Your builders will create plan view drawings of each floor of the home.
- Elevation view drawing: A blueprint showing the build on a vertical plane, depicting how it looks on all four sides. Your builders will likely create interior and exterior elevation drawings.
- Section view drawing: A blueprint showing cross-sections of the home on a vertical plane to detail the interior structure. These plans include important information about wall studs, insulation, and sheathing.
Understanding the perspective a blueprint shows is the first step in reading the blueprint.
Understanding Custom Home Floorplan Layouts & Deciphering the Symbols
Custom home floor plans typically include several pages of information. You can expect your home blueprint to contain all of the following sections:
- Cover sheet with a sketch of the house’s exterior
- Foundation plan detailing the square footage your house will take up and any excavation plans
- Plan view, elevation view, and section view drawings
- Roof plan
Each of these pages includes numerous details about the contents of the rooms or structures in the plan. Custom home builders use symbols to represent the different components of their builds, and understanding these symbols can make reading the plan a lot easier.
Here are a few basic symbols you’ll probably see in your blueprint:
- Doors: A straight line with a gap in the middle where a curved line shows the door swinging open
- Windows: Three straight lines stacked on top of each other
- Stairs: Parallel lines overlayed with measurements
- Walls: Two parallel lines
- Appliances: Figures drawn to scale that resemble the appliance they represent
These basic categories represent the types of symbols you may see on your blueprint. However, each category includes numerous variations. For example, you can find dozens of blueprint symbols indicating different types of doors. If you’re ever unsure of a symbol on your custom home blueprint, just ask your contractor.
Your blueprint will also include measurements for almost every fixture and detail within your home build. Your contractor will draw the blueprint to scale and include a compass to indicate the orientation of a room within the house.
The Benefits of Understanding Your Custom Home Plans
Knowing how to read your custom home blueprint can provide several benefits for your building process:
Helps You Visualize the Space
Custom home builds include several building stages, and throughout many of these stages, you may have trouble visualizing how the final product will look. However, reading the blueprint can help you imagine the space better during the intermediate building stages.
Allows You To Indicate Specific Changes to the Design
Reading the blueprint for your custom home can help you identify any changes you want to make before the builders execute them. Then, you can point to the exact placement on the blueprint where you’d like the change to occur.
Streamlines Communication with the Designers
Discussing your vision with your contractor is one thing, but translating that vision into an actual home build is another. However, when you and the contractors work together on the custom home plans, you can give more detailed, precise instructions for the house.
Gives You More Control Over the Build
You should have as much control over the home-building process as possible. Understanding your custom home’s designs can help you feel more involved in the building process to ensure that your vision comes to fruition.
Start Building Your Custom Home the Right Way
Working with the best custom home builders can make your new home build as seamless as possible while ensuring that your dreams come to life.
If you’re looking for professional home builders in the Magnolia, TX, area, Picklo Homes can help. Contact our team today at 281-252-4447 to start designing and building your custom dream home.
