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How to Read and Understand a Floor Plan
Some home shoppers find floor plans confusing. After all, you don’t experience your home looking straight down from above! Other buyers love reading floor plans; it’s like an instruction manual for your home, and knowing all the parts and pieces and how they work together gives you a deeper insight into the house.
Touring a model or show home or taking a virtual tour is a great way to experience how a house feels, but reading a floor plan also gives you helpful information to ensure a home is the right fit for you.
In this blog, we’ll break down the essentials of reading a floor plan and offer tips for choosing one that best fits your needs.
Champlain Floor Plan, Traditional Collection, Kissing Tree Community, San Marcos, Texas
What are Floor Plans?
Floor plans are scaled diagrams that provide a bird’s-eye view of a home’s layout. They illustrate the arrangement of rooms, walls, doors, windows, and other features, helping you see how the space is organized. Measurements are included to give a sense of room sizes and dimensions, while symbols show the placement of details like staircases, appliances, or even furniture.
Key Elements of a Floor Plan
Solana Floor Plan, Vista Collection, Orchard Hills Community, Irvine, California
Symbols and Notations
A floor plan uses symbols to represent doors, windows, walls, and other features.
- Doors – All doors will be indicated with an arc in the direction it opens. Sliding doors, like the ones found on bedroom closets, will typically be shown with two thin, slightly overlapping rectangles.
- Cabinets – A dotted line shows the presence of upper cabinets, and the base cabinets are indicated by a solid line.
- Closets – Different closet styles will have different doors and built-in storage systems. The door will be indicated by a swinging or sliding door icon, and the storage system will be shown by a solid and dotted line, representing a shelf and/or rod feature.
- Stairs – If your home has multiple levels, the floor plans will show the location of the staircase, any features under the stairs (storage or closets), and the primary direction of the stairs, marked with UP or DN and a directional arrow. If an upper level is open in any area to view the floor below, this area will be labeled with “open to below.” Other elements, such as the upper floor railing, will also be clearly labeled.
- Walls – Interior and exterior walls will clearly show how rooms are separated. Dashed or broken lines might be used to show half-walls, archways, or open areas without doors.
- Windows – Windows are usually drawn as thin, hollow rectangles and lines that break the solid line of a wall.
Chorley Floor Plan, 36' Detached Collection, Midhurst Valley, Barrie, Ontario
Dimensions and Measurements
Look for measurements listed for each room to get a sense of its size. This will give you a head start on space planning. Will your oversized sectional fit in the living room? Can you fit your kids’ desks in the flex space? Does your home gym setup work better in the basement or the spare bedroom?
Keep in mind that room dimensions are presented as the width of the space by the length. For example, a room with a 12’ x 16’ dimension means it’s 12 feet wide (from side to side) by 16 feet long (from top to bottom).
Room Labels and Flow
Major elements and rooms will be labeled (e.g., “Great Room” or “Primary Bedroom”) to indicate their intended use. These labels will be included for the main areas of your home, such as the bedrooms, baths, and kitchen, and other important elements to make the layout easier to understand, such as a kitchen island, dishwasher, and washer/dryer location.
Because of space limitations, you’ll likely come across abbreviated words throughout the floor plan. Some common ones you may encounter are:
- WIC – Walk-in Closet
- W/D – Washer and Dryer
- WIP – Walk-in Pantry
- STOR – Storage Area
- LN – Linen Closet
- DN – Used on stairs to indicate the stairway down
- OPT – Optional features that do not come standard with your home
- PR – Powder Room
- CAB – Cabinet
- DW – Dishwasher
- W/H – Water Heater
- REF – Refrigerator
Floor Plan Variations
Laredo Floor Plan, Laurel Collection, Blossom Rock Community, Apache Junction, Arizona
Modern home designs often go beyond traditional layouts, offering flexible spaces designed to adapt to the way individual households live. Many floor plans have variations that show how optional rooms and features affect the overall layout.
Possible variations include an additional bedroom, flex spaces, extended patios, outdoor living areas, storage options, or a finished basement. These amendments to a floor plan are typically shown in a different color to highlight where these features would go and how they would affect the overall layout.
When reviewing floor plans, consider how a variation aligns with your daily life. Does it make more sense to have a bedroom or a flex space to use as an office or gym? Would you benefit from additional storage? Does an outdoor room encourage your love of spending time outside?
Carefully reviewing options within a floor plan can help ensure your home functions for your family for years to come.
Carlisle II Floor Plan, Laned Collection, Seton Community, Calgary, Alberta
Tips for Visualizing a Floor Plan
Floor plans aren’t meant to be skimmed or glossed over–especially the first time you lay eyes on one. Floor plans tell the story of a home and take shoppers on a journey from space to space, so you’ll benefit from taking the time to carefully review each and every area.
A great way to visualize your home using the floor plan is to start at an entry point and “walk” through room by room. Taking this path will help you better understand how your lifestyle and daily routines match up with a particular floor plan.
Some floor plans include furniture symbols to show the location of beds, sofas, and tables. You can use these symbols to visualize how furniture will fit in each room and determine if the layout makes sense for your needs.
Compare the floor plan to your current home. How do the sizes of the rooms compare? Is the layout similar or different? If you’re still struggling to visualize something, grab some painter’s tape and mark out room dimensions wherever you have space (your garage, driveway, or living room may be large enough for the task!).
If possible, tour a similar model or show home! Ask the homebuilder if there is a nearby community with the same or similar floor plan that you can visit. Even if it’s not an exact match, having a reference point for a room’s size or a home’s layout can be helpful.
Evaluating a Floor Plan for Your Needs
Start with your essentials. How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you need? Do you need any flex spaces? Then move on to your nice-to-have list. These are features you want in your home, like walk-in closets or an oversized kitchen island. If you need some guidance, check out our blog, “Creating a New Home Wish List,” for tips on identifying everything you want (and don’t want) in your home.
Pay attention to the size, shape, and location of each room. How close are shared spaces to the bedrooms? How far is the kitchen from the garage for unloading groceries? You’ll also want to note the location of doors and windows. How will traffic move from room to room? Does the space have a lot of windows to let in natural light?
Take time to review the details of the kitchen. After all, many consider it to be the heart of the home! Imagine moving between appliances, where you’ll stand to prep food, and if the kitchen can comfortably accommodate more than one person at a time.
You should also evaluate the storage options in the home. Identify all the closets, pantry space, shelving, and any other storage availability throughout the floor plan. Sufficient storage makes a dramatic difference in how organized your home feels and can be a dealbreaker for many home buyers.
Monet III Floor Plan, Single Family Homes Collection, Lakeside at Trappe Community, Trappe, Maryland
We love helping our home buyers learn how to read a floor plan. We know it’s just one factor in making sure their needs and preferences are met in their new homes.
For many home shoppers, the best way to really visualize a house is a combination of renderings, floor plans, touring a model or show home, and using the expertise of our sales team and design professionals.
Don’t worry; we’re with you every step of the way so you feel informed, excited, and ready to experience your way home.
Start your journey to homeownership today with Brookfield Residential! Explore where we build and connect with our sales team when you’re ready to learn more. We’ll be expecting you!