How to Design Your Own Floor Plans and Blueprints

Building a dream home is easy if you plan well. Floors are the most attractive thing in the design of the whole house.  Making a floor plan is vital for home decoration.  Before setting up a floor plan, it is important to decide how you will set up your furniture and other things on the floor. There are two ways of working out floor plans and blueprints. One is drawing out the plan manually using paper, scale and pencil. The other is using a computer software to build and plan the floor to any design that you want.

The term house plan, blueprints, floor plans can be confusing for a new builder. But designing and creating your own floor plans and blueprints on a piece of paper can be easy if you follow these simple step by step guide.

Things You'll Need:

• Grid paper
• Pencil
• T-Square
• Triangle
• 6 Sided architect's ruler

Step 1:

Use the paper to draw the view of the whole home using scale of 1/4“ = 1’.  Get as much help as you can from the internet. There are websites that offer videos on how to draw the whole house using this scale measurement.

Use the formula to calculate the exact dimension of the floor.
Floor area = Length x Width of the room. 

Step 2:

Get the exact dimensions of each room, the total living space, the furniture, the closet, the electrical gadgets, telephones, and the other things that are to be placed on the floor. The room size should not be lesser than the minimum allotted by the Housing Authorities.  The recommend space is 125sq.ft while the minimum is 100sq.ft.  Living room should be at least 150sq.ft while the recommended value is 250sq.ft.  You can have the dining room as small as 120sq.ft.

Step 3:

Decide on the furniture to be placed on the floor.  Use the stickers.  You can even make your own pieces by cutting out furniture pieces from magazines.  Make sure they have common dimensions so that you can easily rearrange them.  Also allow some free space, in case you buy new furniture.

Step 4:

If your house is going to be a single story, then your plumbing fixtures can use a common wall.  Allow space for plumbing lines by making the wall 2X6.


Step 5:


Make photocopies of your plan and work it out with your building constructor. 

Using a software:
You can incorporate every conventional architectural floor design feature you need to make your home highly functional and beautiful for your lifestyle without any expertise from your side.  Software will come with pre-drawn shapes and furniture.  You can see your floor plan in 3D view as well.  You can save a copy of the file even in BMP, JPG and PDF formats. 




Tips:


Check the floor plan to see if you have utilized space wisely.  This will help a great deal when you start decorating the house.

There are home floor plan kits available in the market.  They are very easy to use and can be reused as well.  Some even come with Styrofoam miniature furniture.

Try to put closets near inner walls to provide insulation against noise.




References:

• My Construction Planner: Floor Plan Tips 
• Build Wisely: Floor Plan Tips
• eHouse Plans: Home Quick Planner
• Andy's How To: Room Design Floor Plans
• About: Architecture: Design Software

How to Determine Your Heating Air Duct Requirements

The heating and air conditioning system  is an important consideration to keep in mind when building a new house. Installing the ductwork for your heating and air is more difficult and costly if done after construction is complete. This makes installing ducts in a new house somewhat easier than doing the same job  in existing construction. The process of installing heat and air ducts is a straightforward process that only requires the installer to follow a few standard instructions.

Things You'll Need:

• Building Plans
• Heating and Air Conditioning System
• Air Ducts

Step 1:

Keep the home's heat gain in mind. Look over your building plan and consider the number of bedrooms and the total size of the house. You can refer to the house's total heat gain computation, which is dependent on the material it is built with, whether it has insulation, and the overall size of the home. As a general rule, the bigger the house, the bigger the heat gain, the larger capacity of the required air conditioning system.

Step 2:

Consider the placement of your air conditioning and heating systems, particularly if they will be sharing the duct work. Your heater and fan will most likely be at the basement, while your air conditioning condenser will usually be outside.

Step 3:

Consider the size of the air ducts you will be installing. Because the air conditioning fan needs to maintain constant pressure across all areas of the duct work, you should consider the correct size and proportion of the air ducts. As you go higher through the house, and as the air ducts actually drive air into a room, the size of the ducts must be decreasing, so that the air being pumped is in constant pressure.


Tips:

For best results, consult with an HVAC contractor on the proper design and materials you will need for your heating and air conditioning system.

You will need to plan and build return air ducts. These are air ducts that have air flowing in reverse of the original air ducts. These are necessary to maintain the correct flow of air into each room, and likewise outside from each room and back into the air conditioning system. Reverse air ducts are usually situated directly opposite the in-flowing ducts.


References:

• Ask the Builder: Air Conditioning 
• Ask the Builder: HVAC Return Air Duct 
• This Old House: Adding Central Air

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How to Restring Pella Blinds

Pella was founded by Pete and Lucille Kuyper in 1925. They came from the small Dutch community of Pela, hence the name. They invented a special window screen which had the ability to roll up and down like a shade. As of today the company is still run by the Kuyper family along with professional help and is the 2nd largest manufacturer in America of patio doors, windows and entry doors. Pella has a team of over 8600 members who work diligently to ensure the best quality and have more than 200 window and door showrooms.

Things You'll Need:

• Pella Window Blinds

Step 1:

Firstly remove the shade by pulling on the “U” shaped tab which is located on the corner. By doing this the side part of it would be removed. What’s required next is to move the shade away from the side hinge and to the side where the clipped panels are, which will remove it completely. (The new models come with hinges instead of clips)

Step 2:

The next step would be to pull the tab and then put the removed shades back in to the proper place. Pella blinds are now cordless therefore all one must do is check where the shade operator handle is located which is generally near the bottom of the panel. This can be found generally prior to the inserting the panel. Once this is done it will enable the operator handle to raise and lower the shade without any hindrance.

Step 3:

Then what is required is to place the blind into the removable glass panel, which is done by sliding the top part of the blind into the stud which helps to mount it. Then the operator drive should be changed to the drive gear which is the hole shaped area. This side is marked as A and is located on top of the head rail.   In certain cases you might have to move the blind operator handle upwards to ensure proper alignment of the blind.

Step 4:

Then firmly secure the blind head rail by pressing on the opposite side of the head rail over the other mounting stud, which is labeled as B on the top side of the shade. Finally close the hinged panel or in the case of the old blinds make sure the clip panel is reinstalled and closed completely. Failure to do so could result in the windows being fogged up.


References:

• Adobe Blinds and Shades: Pella Built in Shade Options 

 

How to Prime a Heating Oil Tank

Priming a heating oil tank is done when oil in the tank is depleted. If the tank has been allowed to burn itself out, there will be no oil in the fuel lines to restart the system. In this case, priming is used to get the flow of oil started so that the heater can restart. The process is not difficult by following a few basic steps, but caution should be exercised at all stages.

Things You'll Need:

• Box end wrench set
• Bucket
• Scrap cloth

Step 1:

Find the bleeder port. This generally is found above a return or bypass valve. Use a wrench to loosen the bleeder port. Once loose, oil will seep out through the bypass. Use a bucket to collect the oil.

Step 2:

Turn on the power to the oil burner. Oil should begin spraying into the bucket. Once the oil flow is steady, the oil burner should be shut off. This takes about 30 seconds. If there is no flow, press the reset button and try again.

Step 3:

Allow the tank and heating system to stand for several minutes, then start the oil burner. Burning should begin immediately. Check to make sure there is a consistent flame inside the heating system. Use the control valves to increase or decrease the flow.


Tips:

Oil leaks can be cleaned with special cloths and kitty litter.

Warnings:

When maintaining an oil tank, it is important that the oil tank does not run lower than 1/8th of its volume. When a tank runs dry, impurities may gather and block outlets in the system.


References:

• Jim Kerns Heating: How to Prime an Oil Burner if the Oil Tank Ran Dry

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