Introduction.
Reading home plans and designs when you’re not an architect or a builder may be frustrating and difficult to achieve. Unless you are in the architectural business or familiar with the drawings, you won’t be able to understand what the drawings are saying. Before we go into the details of reading a home, let’s understand what an architect’s plane means.
What is an Architect’s Plan?
An architect’s plans are graphic and technical representations of how an architect designs and wants the building to look after construction and they are in the two-dimensional pattern. It basically provides an understanding of a house or building’s various characteristics which are represented through a set of drawings.
At Danarch Planning and Design Services we are a group of home design specialists who manage projects ranging from commercial developments and single house, and we provide the best architectural plans and home extension design for our clients.
What are the importance of an Architect’s Plans?
The importance of an architect’s plan in the successful actualization of a building’s project cannot be overemphasized. It provides a clear answer to all what, why and how surrounding a construction project and considers any questions from people involved in building a house and answers them. It serves as a form of agreement among contractors, workers and clients, and it also estimates the cost of materials to be used in construction; the cost of labor, and helps to create a construction schedule.
These are what we put into consideration at Danarch Planning and Design Services, Limerick when making home plans and designs or house extension designs for our clients.
What are the types of views in an architectural plan?
There are 3 types of view when trying to read an architect plan, which are used by architects in limerick to present a structure in technical drawing. They includes:
1.Plan View Drawing: The plan view depicts a bird’s eye view of a structure form above drawn on a horizontal plane. There is a plan view for each floor of the structure, which includes foundations, basements, and the rooftop.
2.Elevation view drawing: This view plan is used to depict the appearance of the exterior of the building and it is drawn on a vertical plane. It can also be used to depict the interior of a building.
3.Section view drawing: they are also drawn on a vertical plan and used to duplicate the interior or inside of a section of a building which reveals the location of the wall studs, insulations and other elements.
How to Read the types of Architect’s Plan Lines.
One of the basic skills of reading a blueprint is knowing what each different lines in a construction drawing represents. Here is a quick guide covering most of the common lines found in architects plans.
- Object line: This line represents the side of a building element that will be visible to an observer, and the lines are bold and the thickest one found on the architect’s plan.
- Hidden Line: Appearing as short dashes on the plan, hidden lines reveal building object surfaces that are hidden from view when observed in person.
- Center Line: They are alternating short and long dashes that indicate the central axis of a building element.
- Dimension Lines: They are two solid lines found with arrowheads pointing in opposite directions that show the distance between two points on the plan.
- Extension Lines: They show the limit of the building element dimension when paired with a dimension line and are represented by a short line found at the end of dimension lines.
- Leader Line: They are fine lines drawn with the arrow head pointing to a specific building element that is used to connect a note or number to the corresponding building elements.
- Phantom Line: They are long dashes alternated with two long short dashes which shows how a building element can be moved to alternate locations.
- Cutting plane lines: They are U-shaped lines with arrows at each end dissecting the relevant building elements which are used to display an interior feature of a building element.
- Break lines: They consist of short break lines which are thick, while longer break lines are drawn with rulers and interspersed with hand-drawn zigzag lines. They are used to conserve drawing space by reducing the length of a long uniform building elements.
- Section lines: They consist of multiple short parallel diagonal lines which indicate when the surface of an object in the sectional view is cut along the cutting plane.
Understanding Drawings in a Set of Architects Plans.
To keep architect plans in limerick organized, a set of standard set of letter codes is combined with the page numbers, whichever allows for the description of the objective of each drawing and its place in the plan.
- G sheets: These are also known as general sheets and they represent the plan index, cover sheet, the title block and plot plans.2.A-sheets: They represent the architectural plan for the floors, walls, ceiling, and building sections.
- S-sheets: They represent the structural engineering of the plan, which also includes outlined building foundations, roof structure and framing plans.
- E-sheets: This represents the electrical plans that outline the location and uses of electric ffixtures, pictures, outlets etc.
- M-sheets: They are also known as the Mechanical plans which are related to the building ductwork, piping, and control wiring.
- P-sheets: They are also known as the plumbing plans for the building.
- Specification Sheets: This gives an in depth description of the material used during construction.
- Door, Window and Finish Schedule: They provide information on the style, size and materials used for the door, window and other finishes.
4 Important Things To Know When Reading an Architect’s Plan.
Here are four important tips to take note, when trying to read an architect’s plan:-
- Start Reading a Plan from the Title Block:- When reading an architect plan, the title block is the first thing you will read as it displays important information’s like the projects name, plan number, drawing date, location information and other basic necessary information about the construction plans.
- Take a Look carefully at the legend Plan:- Decoding and knowing basic symbols in the plans is done with the help of the legend. As an illustration, roofing plans may have symbols which are indicated by showing the placement of skylights.
- Locate the Architect plans to scale and orientation:- This is found near the plan legend and it indicates the difference between the size of the finished structure and the size of the drawing. This will help you to properly read an architect’s plan.
- Check for notes from the Architect:- Parts of the plans that may be difficult to interpret may have been explained by the architect; so check for notes which may be attached to the plans or written directly on the plan.
Contact us today at Danarch Planning and Design Services for your architectural projects and we promise to deliver the best quality product you have ever seen as client satisfaction is out topmost priority.
