Good morning,
I hope I won’t be immediately kicked out of the forum for asking this question. I’ve already used the search function extensively but couldn’t find a relevant thread—if this question has been asked recently, I would appreciate a link or a nudge toward the right search terms 🙂
Here is my issue: I’m looking for a good program to draw floor plans. Now, as we are working on the renovation, we’ve reached the point where multi-story planning is needed, including a new staircase. The “problem” is that the house is not just a simple house. Originally, it was a small house, and alongside it, a similarly sized barn was built; later, the two buildings were connected, and eventually an extension was added. Across the full width of the property, there is a slight bend, the rear has many protrusions, and inside on the ground floor, there are 3 different levels (each separated by one step); on the upper floor there is also a step in the living room and then another 3 steps leading to the extension.
The different levels aren’t the main focus to model precisely right now— it’s more important to be able to include the ground floor walls in the upper floor planning. Also, finding the right position for the new staircase will be tricky; I’m already struggling just on paper.
Can you give me tips on where I could find a good program? It can of course cost something, but I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars 😉
I hope I won’t be immediately kicked out of the forum for asking this question. I’ve already used the search function extensively but couldn’t find a relevant thread—if this question has been asked recently, I would appreciate a link or a nudge toward the right search terms 🙂
Here is my issue: I’m looking for a good program to draw floor plans. Now, as we are working on the renovation, we’ve reached the point where multi-story planning is needed, including a new staircase. The “problem” is that the house is not just a simple house. Originally, it was a small house, and alongside it, a similarly sized barn was built; later, the two buildings were connected, and eventually an extension was added. Across the full width of the property, there is a slight bend, the rear has many protrusions, and inside on the ground floor, there are 3 different levels (each separated by one step); on the upper floor there is also a step in the living room and then another 3 steps leading to the extension.
The different levels aren’t the main focus to model precisely right now— it’s more important to be able to include the ground floor walls in the upper floor planning. Also, finding the right position for the new staircase will be tricky; I’m already struggling just on paper.
Can you give me tips on where I could find a good program? It can of course cost something, but I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars 😉
Fummelbrett schrieb:
Mapping the different levels is not primarily important right now – it is more important to be able to include the ground floor walls in the planning of the upper floor. But basically, any house design software can do that.
Ground floor with lines from the upper floor
Upper floor with lines from the ground floor:
Fummelbrett schrieb:
Generally speaking, we need a plan that clearly shows what is located above or below a specific room.Exactly: you need a plan based on the actual measurements. You would first have to put these into a sketch yourself.
You’re not alone in this; someone else in the family who knows how to do it could create the sketch.
The measurements would then need to be entered into a program. This would be done using that sketch. It takes you too long to do it yourself.
That makes an (expensive) program unnecessary.
It’s often quite tricky to draw something without any reference, like a made-up new build rather than an existing structure.
What you need is a section drawing with levels for the staircase because of the different heights.
For the exact position of the bathtub, you’ll need a tape measure and the installation dimensions of the bathtub itself.
The software won’t help you with that.
You can design the free room with Homebyme.
Fummelbrett schrieb:
The goal in the medium term is to be able to determine the position of the new staircase. [...] Generally speaking, we need a plan that clearly shows what is located directly below or above a specific room. If that is the problem description, I don’t think CAD software—even considering the mentioned downside that those with high potential also require considerable learning effort—is the solution (or even points in the direction of where the solution lies).
The presentation is actually not demanding here, so a simple drawing program, even a shareware one, would be suitable; rather, the measurement is the key issue.
Exactly where the challenge lies, planning software does not take that work off your hands.
Therefore, I would recommend the following approach: First, you need a rough sketch, hand-drawn is perfectly fine, roughly to scale. Make one for each part of the building and for each level. To keep it simple at first, let’s call the levels floors.
Then choose suitable points whose vertical alignment is certain—for example, an existing stairwell with the wall at the stair that crosses the floor plate boundary.
Next, find a reference point in the ground floor plan that you can track visually through the vertical connection into the upper floor. From this horizontal point, create a point in three-dimensional space by assigning a height, for example, 1.00 meter (3 feet 3 inches) above the finished floor surface.
Now place a spirit level with an angle finder against the mentioned wall, because you want to verify whether the wall runs straight upward (or how much it deviates from plumb). You will need a comparable reference point on the upper floor as well and to understand where its vertical line lies relative to the ground floor reference.
In both floors, look for additional reference lines whose relative position to the “zero point” you can establish. These lines run through door openings so they can be followed from the hallway into the rooms. Confirmed right angles (for example, through floor tiles) are very helpful.
Once this principle is understood, the visualization is just the cherry on top and can be done with ordinary off-the-shelf software.
For the next step (relating the building parts to each other vertically), a transparent water-filled hose helps to equalize the height measurement points.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Similar topics