A good drafters qualifications are: accuracy, technique, speed, economy, and neatness and also a fluent grasp of how to draw in many of the various CAD programs on the market today as well as use of the drafting board. Like many fields, drafting used to be mostly a mans vocation, but no longer because women have entered the work force and showed that they can be just as useful and skilled as any man creating complex drawings.
Accuracy is the greatest of these qualifications. A mistake should be considered as a reflection of the drafters character and every effort should be made to create habits of doing the most accurate work possible.
Technique should be studied and developed thoroughly, because without technique the drafters work looks like it was done by an amateur.
Speed in drafting is the result of mental processes as well as manual dexterity or skill with the mouse and keyboard using CAD. It naturally follows quick thought when the subject is understood and technique is mastered. And with speed comes economy. Speed can be attained by close attention to what details, dimensions, and shading are needed and also what is not required.
And then neatness is the final form of efficiency in light of the other qualities. It should be developed into a habit, and will usually be noticed in the work of those possessing the other qualities.
About the Author
Tim Davis is a drafter who has mastered many different types of drafting known as disciplines. He teaches drafting at http://101info.org and is the webmaster of Drafting, CAD, & Design Articles at http://draftingservice.us/drafting/
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( 3 / 49 )Architectural details are the drawings made at a larger scale than the plans and exterior elevations to accurately show the various methods of construction and the mouldings and ornamentation on the building.
The scale of details varies according to the size of the item being drawn in detail. 1/2" = 1'- 0" and 3/4" = 1'- 0" are the most common scales used. When absolute accuracy is needed, like the intricate mouldings on a decorative fire place mantel, full-size (life size) details are drawn. And the smaller scale details are usually included in the general drawings while full-size details are placed on their own separate drawing sheets.
The various types of details would be as follows:
Sectional Details - This is where we would draw something as if a knife had cut a slice out of the building plan and drew all the various parts of the construction like the studs showing all the things connected to them from the sheet-rock on the interior to the exterior sheathing and siding.
This type of detail would also show the insulation in the walls, floor, and ceiling, the types of rafters, end plates, headers over doors and windows, top and bottom plates of the walls, rafters or trusses, ceiling joists, and supporting structures, roof sheathing, shingle types, and ventilation, etc. These can either full cut away sections or partial depending on the detail needed.
Millwork Details - These details would show the angles of cuts and joints to various trims like base, corner, and wainscot mouldings usually called chair moulds. This would also include special columns and railings.
Special Details - Items of special interest like kitchen and bathroom cabinet drawings or closet specialties like built in shoe boxes and clothing lockers.
Utility Details - Usually when a special fireplace, stair, book case or entertainment center is to be built, this would be done in section or elevation showing the various parts and the extra ordinary items.
My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural and mechanical plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw house plans, site plans, mechanical and shop drawings and other types of drafting that I have been trained to do in a virtual classroom on the internet called 101 Info Dot Org at http://101info.org
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( 3 / 49 )To be fully qualified in their work, the architectural drafter needs to have training and experience in a wide range of subjects related to drawing and construction.
1. He or she must be completely familiar with the principles of orthographic projection. This would include the relation of views, projections, sections, developed views, reflected views, Intersections of members of a structure, etc.
2. They have to know the Architectural Symbols, and the methods of representing various forms of construction.
3. They have to be acquainted with the history of architecture. This includes building practices that have succeeded as well as those that have failed the test of time.
4. They have to know the principles of pure and applied design.
5. They need to know various construction materials, their strengths, characteristics, limitations and various uses.
6. They should have a working knowledge of creating perspective drawings, how to shade them with shadows, and rendering so that a design can be better understood out side of the 2 dimensional plane of drafting.
Architectural drawing is not just a mechanical operation and neither is it a subject to be learned separately from architectural design. The subject of architectural placement and arrangement of visual elements of a building must go hand in hand with the ability to mechanically draw these elements.
About the Author
My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural and mechanical plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw house plans, site plans, mechanical and shop drawings and other types of drafting that I have been trained to do in a virtual classroom on the internet called 101 Info Dot Org at http://101info.org
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( 2.9 / 54 )The prettiest of all materials for a house is probably stone. This accounts for the increasing amount of houses with stone finishes erected in the past few years. But stone is also one of the most expensive materials you can use. Its use in home building costs is more than that of brick or stucco or wood. It comes as a real shock to new perspective home owners when they find out the cost difference because they had learned that when this country was young, stone was used by the poorest of farmers to construct their dwellings.
The reason the cost was so low in earlier days was that in the first place, the farmers back had to clear their fields of rock, rubble, and stone anyway, and the expense of carrying it to the construction site was no greater than the expense of carrying it anywhere else. So basically their material was supplied for free at the site! But today we have to pay for the quarrying of the stone and then more for the shipping.
And besides that, the roads and methods of transportation were so bad that it was near impossible to get brick even a few miles from brick kilns without a great amount of expense. Brick was therefore out of the question unless you had a brick kiln in your back yard or there was a waterway close by so it could be shipped by barge. Also, in those days bricks were made by hand and not by machine. The cost of molding bricks equaled or was sometimes greater than the cost of laying stone.
About the Author
My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural and mechanical plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw house plans, site plans, mechanical and shop drawings and other types of drafting that I have been trained to do in a virtual classroom on the internet called 101 Info Dot Org at http://101info.org
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( 3 / 59 )It is not the intention of this article to give you a complete course in drawing a floor plan. That is a very involved process. In short though, I would like to walk you through the process for your general information.
Most all plans start with a sketch of some sort made by the prospective home builder, or by a professional architect or designer. Usually that sketch is drawn on graph paper so that some sort of scale can be maintained and usually that scale on the grid paper is either one quarter inch equals one foot or two feet.
The first thing that is drawn is the exterior boundary known as the perimeter walls. Weather you are using a drafting board or a CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) program, the process is still basically the same because a CAD program really is nothing more than a drafting board on your computer.
Inside the boundary line, we then draw the thickness of the exterior walls which can either be four or six inches depending on how much insulation will be used and if the construction material is wood or metal studs wood being the most common of the two. This is usually determined by the climate of the area the house will be built in. Houses in colder climates would receive more insulation, therefore thicker walls, and those in warmer climates less.
For homes built with other materials, the thickness will vary from one material to next. For instance if the home is masonry block, the thickness would be four, eight, or twelve inches. With poured concrete the thickness can be whatever is prescribed by the designer, but usually not under six or eight inches thick.
Once the exterior walls are drawn, the interior walls which are almost always four inches thick, are then placed with careful attention paid to room depths and widths. For instance a hall that is under three foot wide is of no practical use because the minimum door (from my own experience) into a bedroom should always be no less than thirty to thirty two inches wide and the framing along with the two or three inch trim should always be considered.
A bedroom should always be a minimum of ten feet wide and ten feet deep not including the closet to allow for a bed, dresser and chest of drawers. The closets should be a minimum of two feet deep by three or four feet wide to allow for clothing storage.
The bathroom or bathrooms of a home should be drawn at a minimum of five feet wide to accommodate a bath tub and no less than seven feet deep to allow room for a toilet and sink vanity. A half bath should be a minimum of four feet wide by four feet deep to allow for the sink and toilet.
The living or family room should almost always be at least one and one half times the size of the smallest bedroom to allow for plenty of room for socializing and relaxing while watching television or entertaining guests.
Kitchen sizes will vary but the minimum size kitchen for a two or three bedroom home should be at least 100 square feet to allow for cooking appliances, dish washing, and food storage and preparation.
If a utility room is on the house sketch, this should be a minimum of three feet deep by five feet wide for a washer and dryer to be placed in it. This type of utility room usually has a five foot wide bi-fold or double door to allow access to both appliances.
And lastly, if we have a garage, the minimum for a single car should be twelve feet wide by twenty two feet deep and an eight foot wide garage door.
Once the rooms are laid out then the doors are placed. The nearest a door should be to a wall is three inches because of the trim surrounding the door casing. The minimum door sizes are as follows: Main Entrance - 36 inch, Secondary Entrance - 32 inch, Bedrooms - 30 inch, Study or Library - 32 inch, Bathrooms - 24 inch, Utility Rooms - 32 inch, Linen Closets - 16 inch, Bedroom Closets - 24 inch, Pantries - 12 inch, Storage Rooms - 32 inch.
These sizes are the preferences of most people I have drawn houses for and may have to be altered to suit the home builder or your client. It's also good to swing a door to the closest wall for the sake of space. Wherever a door is placed, you can't have furniture! So door placement is a matter of functionality also.
Windows are very important to the home as these allow light and fresh air into the rooms. For a bedroom, the minimum window should be three feet wide by four feet four inches tall to allow fire egress (a fire escape) should it be needed.
Once these stages are completed then things like dimensions, door and window labels, notes, and electrical can be placed on the plan.
About the Author
My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural and mechanical plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw house plans, site plans, mechanical and shop drawings and other types of drafting that I have been trained to do in a virtual classroom on the internet called 101 Info Dot Org at http://101info.org
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