How to Draw a Floor Plan
Measurements become a floor plan once they are drawn to scale, so other people can read it and build from it. This guide shows how to draw a floor plan from them, step by step: choosing a scale, drawing walls at the right thickness, cutting in doors and windows, and adding dimensions and labels. The method works with pencil and graph paper or on screen.
Four passes, from outline to labels
1. Draw the outline
Outside walls first, at their real lengths and thickness.
2. Add the interior walls
Start and end them on other walls so they join; each closed area becomes a room.
3. Place doors and windows
Put openings at their measured positions and decide which way each door swings.
4. Dimension and label
Add overall dimensions, room names and areas so anyone can read the plan.
What a floor plan drawing shows
A floor plan is a horizontal slice through the building seen from directly above. The slice is usually about 1–1.2 m (3–4 ft) above the floor so it cuts through the windows. Everything the slice cuts, mainly the walls, is drawn with the heaviest line; everything below it that you look down on, such as door leaves, counters and furniture, is drawn lighter. Things above the slice, like wall cupboards or a beam, are often dashed.
The drawing has to be to scale: every length on the sheet is the real length divided by the same number. With a scale, a builder, a fitter or you, six months later, can take a size off the plan and trust it.
Drawing a floor plan step by step
Work from measurements
Start with a measured sketch: every wall length, each door and window from its nearest corner, and the wall thicknesses.
Pick a scale and a unit
On paper, 1:50 suits a room or two and 1:100 a whole home; in imperial, 1/4″ = 1′-0″ or 1/8″ = 1′-0″. On screen you draw at full size and choose the scale when you print.
Draw the outside walls
Start at one corner and work around the building, each wall at its length and thickness. The outline should close exactly where it started.
Add the interior walls
Partitions are usually thinner than outside walls. Join each one to the walls it meets so every room closes.
Cut in doors and windows
Leave the gap in the wall, draw each door leaf with its swing arc, and draw windows as a thin box with a line for the glass.
Add stairs and fixed items
Stairs with their treads and an UP arrow, columns, kitchen counters and bathroom fittings: anything that stays put.
Dimension and label
Overall dimensions outside the plan, chains for rooms and openings inside them, then room names and areas.
Check and finish
Compare the drawn lengths with your sketch, then add a title, the scale, the date and a north arrow if orientation matters. The editor’s PDF arrow points to the top of the sheet, so draw the plan with north at the top.
Worked example: a two-room cabin
Take the plan in the drawing above: a cabin 6 × 4 m (about 19′8″ × 13′1″) with outside walls 200 mm (8 in) thick and one 100 mm (4 in) partition 3.6 m from the left-hand end.
At 1:50 the outline is 120 × 80 mm on paper, which sits comfortably on an A4 or US Letter sheet; at 1/4″ = 1′-0″ it is about 4.9 × 3.3 in. Draw the outline first, then the partition, which splits the cabin into a living room of 3.6 × 4 m (14.4 m², 155 sq ft) and a bedroom of 2.4 × 4 m (9.6 m², 103 sq ft), measured between wall centre lines. Cut a 900 mm (about 3 ft) front door and an 800 mm (about 2′7″) door in the partition, and two windows in the back wall.
The check at the end is simple arithmetic: 3.6 m plus 2.4 m must equal the 6 m overall dimension. If your chain of dimensions does not add up to the overall length, one of the walls is drawn in the wrong place.
Line weights and drawing conventions
Use three or four line weights at most. Cut walls are the heaviest, often filled solid or hatched; doors, windows and fixed fittings are medium; furniture, dimension lines and text leaders are the lightest. On paper, a harder pencil for light lines and a softer one for walls gives the contrast without changing pens.
Use one unit system throughout, keep text horizontal where you can, and write dimensions so they read from the bottom or the right-hand side of the sheet. Put the scale and the units in the title, so nobody has to guess.
On paper or on screen
| On paper | In the editor | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | Fixed before the first line: choose 1:50 or 1:100 up front | Draw at full size; choose 1:50, 1:100, 1:200 or fit-to-page when you export a PDF |
| Changing a wall | Erase it and redraw it, with its dimensions | Select the wall and type a new length; attached dimensions follow |
| Room areas | Worked out by hand | Shown for every enclosed room |
| Units | Converted by hand | Switch between metric and imperial and every length converts |
| Copies | Photocopy or scan | PDF, SVG, PNG, print, or a share link to an editable copy |
Common drawing mistakes
Walls drawn as single lines
A line has no thickness, so rooms come out larger than they are. Draw both faces of every wall.
Starting inside and working out
Drawing room by room lets small errors add up, and the outline no longer matches the building. Outline first.
Doors without a swing
A gap in the wall says nothing about which way the door opens or what it hits. Draw the leaf and the arc.
Mixing units
Metres in one place and feet in another is how a 3.0 gets read as 3 ft. Pick one system for the drawing.
No scale on the sheet
A plan without its scale cannot be measured. Write it in the title and add a scale bar if the sheet may be resized.
Before you call the drawing finished
The outline closes
Chains of dimensions add up to the overall sizes on every side.
Every room is closed
Each room has walls all round, a name and an area.
Openings are located
Each door and window has a position and a width, and each door a swing.
Stairs show direction
An arrow and UP mark which way the flight rises.
Title block
Project name, scale, units, date and, where it matters, a north arrow.
Drawing it in the editor
In MyFloorPlanMaker, press R and drag to draw a rectangular room, or press W and click each corner to draw walls one by one. While drawing a wall you can type a length such as 4500, 4.5m or 14'9" and press Enter. Walls join where they meet, and any enclosed space becomes a room with a name and an area. D and N add doors and windows, which snap onto walls; Shift+D adds dimension lines that stay attached to corners; T adds text notes. Line weights and symbols are drawn for you, and the PDF export adds the scale bar and title block.
Frequently asked questions
What do you draw first on a floor plan?
The outside walls. Draw the outline at its measured lengths, then divide it with interior walls, then add doors and windows. Starting from the outline keeps the rooms adding up to the overall size.
How thick should walls be on a floor plan?
Draw them at their real thickness. Partitions are often around 100 mm (4 in) and outside walls thicker. The editor starts walls at 150 mm (about 6 in); change it per wall or for new walls in Settings.
What scale should I use to draw a house plan by hand?
For a whole floor, 1:100 in metric or 1/4″ = 1′-0″ in imperial is a common choice; for a single room, 1:50. On 5 mm squared paper at 1:100, each square is 0.5 m.
Can I draw a floor plan without exact measurements?
Yes, for a rough layout. Draw roughly to size and correct it later: select a wall, type its measured length, and lock it so later edits keep it.
Should a floor plan show furniture?
A plan for builders often leaves it out, but furniture is the surest way to check that rooms work. In the editor it sits on its own layer, so you can hide it for a clean drawing.