You should be able to see that some rooms can only be "one-story" spaces, while other are or have the potential to be raised or two-story ceilings.

Compare the plans and the elevation Two-story spaces will often have taller windows, or windows "stacked" above others. They're usually in the larger living spaces - family rooms, living rooms, etc. Sometimes they're next to stairs. Look for these kinds of windows on the elevations and line them up with the rooms they're in on the floor plan.

Look for "ceiling breaks" on the plan Ceiling breaks are places where the flat ceiling intersects with a sloped ceiling or where two sloped ceilings intersect. Ceiling breaks are (or should be) indicated on the plans with a dashed line; usually fairl

House Plans are 2D; Houses are 3D

Does this statement seem a little obvious? Of course it does, and yet it's at the root of the dissatisfaction of the buying and building experience of many house plan purchasers.

The drawings that you see on house plan websites and in plan books aren't well suited to describing the design of the house to you. They're really just marketing diagrams - at a very small scale - that tell you a little bit about how big rooms are and which rooms are next to each other, and not much else.

The Design Process

Architects and home designers are "three-dimensional" thinkers; they draw on paper in two dimensions what they see in their heads in three. Architects can look at a "2D" drawing and accurately imagine what it looks like in "3D" because they do it every day. It's a learned skill and one that you probably don't have (yet!). You've probably said to yourself while you looked at a house plan, "This is so frustrating - I just can't visualize it!"

So why don't home designers prepare drawings that show more about the "third dimension" for consumers? Well, they do - during the design process - you just never get to see them! The design process involves lots of 3D sketches, computer modeling, interior elevation sketches, detail studies, and 3D "massing models". But these are tools for the designer, not information to be presented to you, the consumer (unless you've hired an architect for a custom home design). Once the design is done, the 3D information is coded into the construction drawings to be interpreted by the builder.

Construction Drawings

When a plan service purchases the rights the sell a house plan, they receive a full set of "construction drawings" from the designer. Construction drawings are engineered for use in the field and should contain all the information needed to get a building permit.

But all that detail gets in the way of selling house plans - it clutters up the drawings and it "gives away" too much information; information the plan service doesn't want you to have until you purchase the plans. Some of that information describes the "third dimension" of the spaces in the house.

So house plan services "clean up" the construction drawings; all of the notations and details are stripped out before they're placed in the plan book or on the website. The only part of the house that's represented to you in 3D is the front elevation (that nice color rendering we talked about earlier).

Finding The Hidden 3D

But if you know where to look, there's still some 3D information in the plans - maybe enough to give you an idea of what the spaces are like. Here's how to ferret it out:

Find the "stacked" rooms In a two-story plan, some rooms are going to be "stacked" above others but this isn't always immediately obvious. Find a common "reference point" on both floor plans - a stair is good for this - and look at where the rooms on each floor are located relative to the stair. You should be able to see that some rooms can only be "one-story" spaces, while other are or have the potential to be raised or two-story ceilings.

Compare the plans and the elevation Two-story spaces will often have taller windows, or windows "stacked" above others. They're usually in the larger living spaces - family rooms, living rooms, etc. Sometimes they're next to stairs. Look for these kinds of windows on the elevations and line them up with the rooms they're in on the floor plan.

Look for "ceiling breaks" on the plan Ceiling breaks are places where the flat ceiling intersects with a sloped ceiling or where two sloped ceilings intersect. Ceiling breaks are (or should be) indicated on the plans with a dashed line; usually fairl

imagine what it looks like in "3D" because they do it every day. It's a learned skill and one that you probably don't have (yet!). You've probably said to yourself while you looked at a house plan, "This is so frustrating - I just can't visualize it!"

So why don't home designers prepare drawings that show more about the "third dimension" for consumers? Well, they do - during the design process - you just never get to see them! The design process involves lots of 3D sketches, computer modeling, interior elevation sketches, detail studies, and 3D "massing models". But these are tools for the designer, not information to be presented to you, the consumer (unless you've hired an architect for a custom home design). Once the design is done, the 3D information is coded into the construction drawings to be interpreted by the builder.

Construction Drawings

When a plan service purchases the rights the sell a house plan, they receive a full set of "construction drawings" from the designer. Construction drawings are engineered for use in the field and should contain all the information needed to get a building permit.

But all that detail gets in the way of selling house plans - it clutters up the drawings and it "gives away" too much information; information the plan service doesn't want you to have until you purchase the plans. Some of that information describes the "third dimension" of the spaces in the house.

So house plan services "clean up" the construction drawings; all of the notations and details are stripped out before they're placed in the plan book or on the website. The only part of the house that's represented to you in 3D is the front elevation (that nice color rendering we talked about earlier).

Finding The Hidden 3D

But if you know where to look, there's still some 3D information in the plans - maybe enough to give you an idea of what the spaces are like. Here's how to ferret it out:

Find the "stacked" rooms In a two-story plan, some rooms are going to be "stacked" above others but this isn't always immediately obvious. Find a common "reference point" on both floor plans - a stair is good for this - and look at where the rooms on each floor are located relative to the stair. You should be able to see that some rooms can only be "one-story" spaces, while other are or have the potential to be raised or two-story ceilings.

Compare the plans and the elevation Two-story spaces will often have taller windows, or windows "stacked" above others. They're usually in the larger living spaces - family rooms, living rooms, etc. Sometimes they're next to stairs. Look for these kinds of windows on the elevations and line them up with the rooms they're in on the floor plan.

Look for "ceiling breaks" on the plan Ceiling breaks are places where the flat ceiling intersects with a sloped ceiling or where two sloped ceilings intersect. Ceiling breaks are (or should be) indicated on the plans with a dashed line; usually fairl

mation is coded into the construction drawings to be interpreted by the builder.

Construction Drawings

When a plan service purchases the rights the sell a house plan, they receive a full set of "construction drawings" from the designer. Construction drawings are engineered for use in the field and should contain all the information needed to get a building permit.

But all that detail gets in the way of selling house plans - it clutters up the drawings and it "gives away" too much information; information the plan service doesn't want you to have until you purchase the plans. Some of that information describes the "third dimension" of the spaces in the house.

So house plan services "clean up" the construction drawings; all of the notations and details are stripped out before they're placed in the plan book or on the website. The only part of the house that's represented to you in 3D is the front elevation (that nice color rendering we talked about earlier).

Finding The Hidden 3D

But if you know where to look, there's still some 3D information in the plans - maybe enough to give you an idea of what the spaces are like. Here's how to ferret it out:

Find the "stacked" rooms In a two-story plan, some rooms are going to be "stacked" above others but this isn't always immediately obvious. Find a common "reference point" on both floor plans - a stair is good for this - and look at where the rooms on each floor are located relative to the stair. You should be able to see that some rooms can only be "one-story" spaces, while other are or have the potential to be raised or two-story ceilings.

Compare the plans and the elevation Two-story spaces will often have taller windows, or windows "stacked" above others. They're usually in the larger living spaces - family rooms, living rooms, etc. Sometimes they're next to stairs. Look for these kinds of windows on the elevations and line them up with the rooms they're in on the floor plan.

Look for "ceiling breaks" on the plan Ceiling breaks are places where the flat ceiling intersects with a sloped ceiling or where two sloped ceilings intersect. Ceiling breaks are (or should be) indicated on the plans with a dashed line; usually fairl

of the notations and details are stripped out before they're placed in the plan book or on the website. The only part of the house that's represented to you in 3D is the front elevation (that nice color rendering we talked about earlier).

Finding The Hidden 3D

But if you know where to look, there's still some 3D information in the plans - maybe enough to give you an idea of what the spaces are like. Here's how to ferret it out:

Find the "stacked" rooms In a two-story plan, some rooms are going to be "stacked" above others but this isn't always immediately obvious. Find a common "reference point" on both floor plans - a stair is good for this - and look at where the rooms on each floor are located relative to the stair. You should be able to see that some rooms can only be "one-story" spaces, while other are or have the potential to be raised or two-story ceilings.

Compare the plans and the elevation Two-story spaces will often have taller windows, or windows "stacked" above others. They're usually in the larger living spaces - family rooms, living rooms, etc. Sometimes they're next to stairs. Look for these kinds of windows on the elevations and line them up with the rooms they're in on the floor plan.

Look for "ceiling breaks" on the plan Ceiling breaks are places where the flat ceiling intersects with a sloped ceiling or where two sloped ceilings intersect. Ceiling breaks are (or should be) indicated on the plans with a dashed line; usually fairl

You should be able to see that some rooms can only be "one-story" spaces, while other are or have the potential to be raised or two-story ceilings.

Compare the plans and the elevation Two-story spaces will often have taller windows, or windows "stacked" above others. They're usually in the larger living spaces - family rooms, living rooms, etc. Sometimes they're next to stairs. Look for these kinds of windows on the elevations and line them up with the rooms they're in on the floor plan.

Look for "ceiling breaks" on the plan Ceiling breaks are places where the flat ceiling intersects with a sloped ceiling or where two sloped ceilings intersect. Ceiling breaks are (or should be) indicated on the plans with a dashed line; usually fairly close to the wall. You'll want to know how tall the ceiling is, how steep the slope of the roof is, and how tall the wall is. Sometimes the elevations will give you a clue if the room with the ceiling break is on an outside wall.

Understand ceiling profile terms The terms for common ceiling shapes aren't common at all. It isn't unusual for different builders in the same market to call the same ceiling profile by several different names. Occasionally, designers will include notes on the plans that describe the ceiling profile and/or height.

Complexity of roof shapes Finally, the exterior of the house can tell you a lot about what the rooms inside are like. Sloped ceilings are sometimes reflected in the slope and shape of the roof. If you can put the roof shape, window height, and ceiling break lines together in the same room, you'll have a great start on understanding the character of the space inside.

The list above is intended as a reference to be used while you're looking at plans. The most important this to remember is this: don't assume that what you're looking at on paper is what you think you see in your head - take the time to find exactly what the "third dimension" of the spaces are before you commit to a design.