Drawing Plans

[thomp1983]

Hi All,

not sure if this is the best place for this but here goes. I want to draw some scale plans of my house elevations to toy with some ideas I've got but have a couple of questions,

1, When drawing the chimney on a plan how do you measure where it is? my house is a chalet bungalow so I could easily get on the roof and measure exactly but how do architects and designers do this as I'm assuming they don't go taking measurements on the roof.

2, Similar to above how does and architect/designer calculate the height of a property?

Thanks
Chris

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Laser range finder with a trig function will get you heights, etc. Other than tat you could resort to a theodolite on a tripod, or (more modern) a Leica Total Station

 

[frutbunn]

If its brick, I count the brick courses, measure 10 courses in 3 or 4 different locations and take the average depth of a single course. Its surprisingly accurate, otherwise measure internal ceiling heights and ridge to ceiling level and you can usually find the depth of the first floor around the stairwell if you don't have all the gear.

 

[thomp1983]

thanks,

so after doing some measuring with a tape I've had a go at drawing the front elevation of my house as it currently stands.(I know I've missed the top window off)

Do I need to draw the soffits and guttering, there not easy to do at 1:50 scale, what measurements should I be adding to this drawing if I wanted to use it in a planning application.

I'm thinking total height of house, height to where roof pitch starts, width of house, height of garage, width of garage.

I assume there's no way of me showing the garage is set back from the house on the front elevation and this would be show on a side elevation?

thanks
Chris

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Further to what's been suggested already for my domestic work I do my own building surveys old school style so disto for most things including the height of the ridge, or a telescopic measuring rod if it's just too bright for the laser or if it's to cill heights of similar that can be difficult to measure with the laser, an inclinometer for angles of roofs though my disto does angles too.

Your drawing is a little primitive so could do with a little more substance, yes side elevations would show the shape of the building as would the plans including the roof plan. That said I've seen some pretty abysmal drawings submitted and approved for planning. Have a look at your local aauthority's planning portal to see other planning application drawings. Make yourself an account on the planning portal and begin the application process, it will dictate everything necessary to include with a planning application.

Counting the bricks is old favourite for chimney heights, that said an accurate height of a chimney is usually pretty arbitrary.

 

[thomp1983]

ok time to revisit this , i've drawn what I think are acceptable front and side elevations. Could anyone offer any opinions on anything that may be missing or need adding from a planning point of view, not sure if some more measurements are required

And a couple of pictures of the house elevations so you can see how the plans relate

thanks
Chris

 

[foxhole]

You could convert you photos to line drawings (online options) then add dimensions, can’t miss much that way .

 

[thomp1983]

Ok so thought I'd revisit this thread to close it out for anyone who see's it in the future.

So the original point of me wanting to learn how to do drawings that would be acceptable for planning is we had a tentative agreement in place to buy the corner plot on our current street which we would extend to suit our needs and I didn't want to spend large amounts of money on drawings just to get planning permission. We have now agreed to buy the house in question and will be moving in the next month or so, last week I submitted the following drawings to our local authority and following them requesting I add a couple of more details to them they have been accepted as suitable and we will receive a decision by april 21st.

these were submitted in A3 to the council, these A4 versions were ones I gave to the neighbours when discussing it with them. I also had to submit 4 floor plans (existing/proposed ground floor/upstairs) which also had to have the boundaries marked on them. And a site plan was also required which can be downloaded from the local authority site.

So for anyone wondering you don't need any fancy architect drawings if your doing something fairly simple just some clear drawings to the required scales listed on the planning portal.

Chris