Tips For Drawing The Plans For Your House

As ideas come to your mind, you can begin your sketching on the back of an envelope or any scrap of paper you happen to have.

As you refine your sketches, ordinary writing paper may be used; a pad of graph paper with lines 1/4" or 1/8" apart each way would be easy to work on as you can follow the lines on the graph paper and will not need any other equipment than a pencil to work to scale.

While wrapping paper can be used for drawing, a lighter colored paper would be better.

The paper on which you work out your exact plan is called a "work sheet." This must be large enough for the entire floor plan. Most print shops will sell white bond paper in large-sized sheets, about 17" x 22", which will be very satisfactory for work sheets, and cheaper than drawing paper.

To draw a plan efficiently, take a sheet of paper large enough for the plan and lay out the entire building to scale (always use a scale of 1/4" = 1' 0") with pencil, showing the walls, doors and windows, and dimensions.

Erase and change on this sheet as much as you wish—it is only a work sheet—until you get exactly the floor plan you want. The only thing required of this sheet is that it be accurate when you have finished the drawing; how messy it looks when you get through with it is not important. The final tracing is what counts; it must be carefully done and complete.

When you are satisfied with the plan and are sure that everything is worked out exactly the way you want it to be built, get a high quality tracing paper for the final drawings. This can be bought in sheets, often 18" x 24" in size, or in rolls of 10 yards in widths from 24" to 36". Get the best quality of tracing paper you can find. Place it over the drawing and fasten it in place with masking tape.

Then take your T-square and triangles, clean them with a soft cloth or kleenex, sharpen your drawing pencil, and you are ready to make the final tracings. The tracing paper will be transparent so you can see what is underneath. Trace everything you have on the work sheet—walls, windows, doors, electric outlets, plumbing, and print neatly the words, living room, bedroom, etc., in the appropriate places to indicate the use of each room.

Put the sizes on the doors and windows, and show the outside dimensions.

A little study of the plans shown in the following pages will help you to see what to include on the tracing. In making the final tracing, use a 2H or 3H drawing pencil, sharpen it to a conical point, and rotate it slightly as you draw, especially on long lines, to keep it from getting flat on one side, and press down hard.

If you break the lead once in awhile, that indicates that you are using about the right pressure. If you never break the lead, it is a sure sign that you are not getting the best line that your pencil can give.

If your lines are not heavy enough, your blue prints will not come out clear and plain enough to be understood. Keep the pencil very sharp and press hard to make a clear dense line that will print well.

Do your tracing neatly, making a narrow line of uniform width, one that will look neat and will show up on the final print. When the tracing is completed, you can discard the work sheet and keep only the tracings.

The tracings can then be taken to the blue print shop and the prints made. You can usually get either blue prints or black and white prints. The tracings should be taken home and filed away carefully, as you may wish to made additional prints before the job is completed.

The tracings must not be taken to the job, as too much handling, especially with hands that are working and sweaty will spoil their neat appearance.

At least eight or ten sets of prints should be made for most jobs, as the city building department will want two copies, the mortgage company two, and three or four will be needed on the job.

Plumbers, electricians, heating men all want copies of the plans, besides what the carpenters and concrete men will need.

It is worth mentioning here that when you get a mortgage it is best to use a mortgage calculator to get the best deal possible.

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