How to draw a floor plan to scale

To draw a floor plan you measure every room, sketch the layout with the numbers on it, draw it to scale, check it against a few measurements and print it. It works the same for a house or an apartment, on paper or on a screen. Here is each step.

Open the planner

The steps

1. Measure each room (see below) and write the numbers on a quick sketch.
2. Choose a scale if you draw on paper: 1/4" = 1' is common for a house. On a screen the app handles the scale for you.
3. Draw the outer walls first, then the inner walls. In Floorprint, choose Draw, drag a rectangle (or tap the corners for an L-shape), tap a length and type the exact size.
4. Add doors and windows where you measured them, then furniture if you want to test the layout.
5. Check the drawing: measure two or three distances on the real building again and compare with the plan, including the diagonals.
6. Print or save a PDF. See how to print to scale so the paper really is to scale.

How to measure a room or a house

You need a tape measure (a laser measure makes it faster), paper and a pencil. Measure each wall along the floor, not at eye level, and write down every length. Measure both diagonals of each room too: if they match, the room is square, and if not, you know which way the drawing has to skew.

For every door and window note its width, how far it is from the nearest corner and, for windows, the sill height if you care about furniture below them. Measure the wall thickness at a doorway, where you can see it. Include radiators, built-in cupboards, columns and anything else sticking out. In an apartment, measure the rooms one by one and then the hallway, so the pieces add up to the whole flat.

Common mistakes

• Measuring from the middle of a wall in one room and from its surface in another. Pick inside surfaces and stay with it.
• Forgetting wall thickness, so the rooms do not fit together. The sum of the inside lengths plus the walls should equal the outside length.
• Rounding too much. Measure to the nearest half inch or a centimeter.
• Trusting a square corner. Check the diagonals.

If you already have a plan on paper or as a scan, you can trace it instead of measuring. The areas Floorprint shows are simplified estimates, not an official measurement, so for a number that matters ask a surveyor or your architect.