Home Renovation Planning: Can You Draw the Plans Yourself?
If you're simply changing an old faucet in the bathroom for a new designer model, then you hardly need plans. On the other hand, if you're renovating the whole house, a kitchen, or a bathroom, or even if you're just changing the decor of your home, a set of plans is helpful, if not crucial. Of course, the plans don't always need to be formal. Sometimes just sketches of the final layout are all that are needed. This is particularly the case with interior redesigns. Other times, you'll need blueprints for contractors to follow.
A friend of mine took a drafting course in high school, and that was enough to allow her to draw plans that she's used successfully for whole-house renovations—indeed, for building homes from the ground up. The simpler the project, the easier it is to do the plans.
For example, there's no reason you can't sketch out where you want a new greenhouse window to go or where some new cabinets will be placed. On the other hand, the more complex the plans, the greater your knowledge will need to be. If you're adding a room, you'll want to show foundation, roof, rafters, studs, ceiling, electrical, and possibly even plumbing. If you don't know the conventions for showing these features, you will undoubtedly want to get help and probably have a pro do the plans for you.
Renovation means not only adding new, but tearing out old. When you break into a wall, you never know what you will find. There might be a diagonal brace right where you want to place a window, or electrical wiring or plumbing where you want to put a door. The plans, therefore, are only guides. Your really creative work will come once you see what your true obstacles are.
A quick word about home-drawn plans and building department approval. I've never known a building department to refuse approval of home-drawn plans, regardless of the size of the project, if they were drawn correctly and clearly. Nobody says you must use a professional.
After you are done drawing plans for home renovation, you can learn how to make home fries and enjoy it with your husband or wife.
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