Tips for Reading a Floor Plan

The term “floor plan" refers to a physical map of an individual floor. Imagine a drawing of the floor from a bird's eye view, where someone has drawn all of the walls and elements that are inside the space: electrical outlets, furniture and all.

Floor plans used to be called “blueprints," but throughout the years, the term blueprints has expanded to include all aspects of a project including architectural plans, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and structural plans. A complete set of blueprints is referred to as a “plan set." The floor plans are simply part of the plan set.

Here are a few important basics to know when reading a floor plan:

1. Find the “scale"

Scale refers to measurement of dimensions, and if a floor plan is “drawn to scale" that means the drawing shows a real object with accurate sizes reduced by a certain amount. The scale is typically noted along the bottom edge of the floor plan. Dimensions are usually drawn between the walls to specify room sizes and wall lengths. However, sometimes the scale isn't noted. One way around this is to assume a typical door width is about 3 feet wide. Using that distance you can estimate the length or width of any dimension of the floor plan.

2. Know the symbols

The plan set will include a legend outlining symbols for wall types, windows, doors, flooring, etc. For example, walls are shown as parallel lines and may be solid white or filled with a pattern or color to designate a certain wall type. Doors are shown as triangles with a radius edge. Pocket doors are shown as thin rectangles that disappear into the walls and the popular barn doors are depicted as partially open along a wall line. Stairs are drawn as a series of rectangles, usually with a direction arrow indicating whether the stairs travel up to the next higher floor or down.

3. Understand the “cross section"

A cross section, or section, is a vertical slice through the floor plan as though it had been sliced in half or cut along an imaginary plane. This is helpful when you're trying to understand where rooms associate with one another, or to see where certain rooms or building features are located within the building vertically. For example, a cross section in a floor plan could show you where the chimney located on the ground floor extends through a house in relation to the master bathroom or rooms on the upper floors.

Assimilate yourself when walking the floor plan, and understand how the rooms associate with one another. In commercial buildings, locating the CEO's office next to the busiest conference room isn't a great idea. Similarly, in residential design the laundry room and entrance to the garage are best located next to each other.

When reviewing a floor plan, really try to envision yourself walking through the space as though you live or work there. If the floor is in shell condition, having the test fit handy is a great tool to use when visualizing how the space will flow once employees fully occupy the space.

About the Author: David Marino
David Marino is executive vice president and co-founder of Hughes Marino, a commercial real estate firm committed to only representing tenants in their lease and purchase transactions of commercial space, thereby eliminating the conflicts of interest inherent with dual agency (the representation of landlords and tenants at the same firm). David has been exclusively representing tenants since 1991. He got his training on the landlord side of the table doing leasing for Trammell Crow Company from 1989-1991. David obtained his MBA from USC, and BS in Economics from UC Riverside.