Getting ideas on paper is the first step in building a home.
In the United States, most homes are designed around a system that uses 12-inch measurements as standard, though for practical purposes a 4-foot unit makes the handiest base for planning the overall dimensions of a house. Keeping the number 4 in mind as a divisor allows you to draw up a house plan that makes the best use of stock lumber sizes. Employing standard sized lumber requires fewer cuts, uses material more efficiently and saves money. There are many sources for standard measurements based on the federal government list of standards.
Instructions
1. Design the length and width of each room you want in your house to be evenly divisible by the number 4 -- for example, 8-by-8-feet for a bathroom, 12-by-16-feet for a bedroom or kitchen, and 16-by-20-feet for a living room.
2. Plan ceiling heights around the standard 8-foot height The finished height includes stock 93-inch wall studs between stock 1 1/2-inch-deep top and bottom plates, for an 8-foot finished height.
3. Draw a square or rectangle to scale on graph paper for each room using the dimension you have previously planned as your guide. A good scale for planning purposes is ¼ inch on graph paper to equal 1 foot of real space.
4. Cut out and arrange the shapes to create a pleasing layout for the whole house, keeping the overall measurements within the "divisible by 4" guideline. Don't forget to leave room for hallways and utility spaces.
5. Figure the best placement for windows and doors in the finished arrangement, and pencil in widths for those on the plan, based on measurements of actual standard windows and doors.
6. Estimate your horizontal framing needs by dividing the lengths of each wall by 16 inches -- the standard center-to-center spacing between studs or vertical framing boards -- and multiplying that number by 8 -- the height of the finished wall. Refine the calculation further by subtracting the widths of door and window openings from the totals.
7. Work out the approximate lengths of individual framing boards by subtracting heights of door and window frames from the 8-foot height needed for framing the walls.
8. Calculate interior and exterior sheathing needs by dividing the total wall lengths by 4 feet. That is, one sheet of 4-x-8-foot plywood, OSB (oriented strand board) or gypsum wallboard (Sheetrock) per 4 feet of wall covers that distance floor to ceiling. Vertical installation of plywood all the way around exterior walls provides maximum strength.
9. Choose a roof style based on what works well with your finished floor plan -- gable roofs being the most conventional and cost-effective for simple rectangular designs -- then calculate framing needs based on best practices for framing that style roof, using stock lumber.
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