Measuring the rooms
Measure each wall at floor level with a tape measure and write the lengths on a rough sketch before you draw anything to scale. Measure doors and windows from the nearest corner, along with their widths, and note which way each door swings. Round to the nearest 3 inches: at this scale that is a quarter of a square, about as fine as a pencil line.
Then draw the plan: one square per foot, with the bold lines marking every 5 feet so long walls are quick to count. A wall of 12 ft 6 in runs twelve and a half squares. Draw walls as two parallel lines as far apart as the walls are thick (measure one at a door frame), and leave gaps for doors with a quarter-circle showing the swing.
US minimum sizes (International Residential Code)
If the sketch is for a remodel or an addition in the US, check the minimums early. The International Residential Code (IRC), a model code that many US states and cities adopt, sets these among others:
- Habitable rooms (except kitchens): at least 70 square feet, and at least 7 feet in every direction.
- Hallways: at least 3 feet wide.
- Main exit door: a clear opening at least 32 inches wide and 78 inches high.
On this paper that is a room of at least 7 × 10 squares and a hallway at least 3 squares wide. Local codes add their own amendments, so confirm with your building department before you build. Other countries have their own building regulations with different minimums, so check the rules where you live.
Metric plans
Outside the US the page opens at a scale of 1:100 with 5 mm squares, so each square is 50 cm and each bold line marks a metre. An A4 landscape sheet covers 28 × 18 m, enough for most homes on one page. For more detail, choose 1 cm squares and change the title to 1:50: each square is still 50 cm, with twice the room to draw.
For lab graphs and technical sketches in millimetres, see the millimetre graph paper; for 3D sketches of a room, isometric graph paper.
How this page sets up the sheet
- Square grid, landscape.
- In inches: 1/4 in (6.35 mm) squares, 4 per inch; bold line every 5. Printed title: “Floor plan Scale: 1/4 in = 1 ft (1 square = 1 foot)”.
- In millimetres: 5 mm (0.197 in) squares, 2 per cm; bold line every 2. Printed title: “Floor plan Scale 1:100 (1 square = 50 cm)”.
It opens in inches in the US and other countries that use Letter paper, and in millimetres everywhere else (or in whichever unit you last used on this site). The paper size follows your browser too: Letter in the US, A4 elsewhere. Everything stays editable. Your own page settings, such as margins, are remembered for next time; the grid itself always opens as set up here. To start from a blank setup, use the graph paper generator.