Reading Simple Blueprints
Lesson 3 of 13 in Trades Vocabulary & Skills · 25 minutes
Read and interpret basic floor plan symbols, dimensions, scale, and elevation views on construction drawings.
What you'll learn
- Read and interpret basic floor plan symbols
- Understand dimensions, scale, and elevation views on construction drawings
- Locate key information on a simple blueprint
From the lesson
A blueprint is a detailed drawing of a building or structure. In Canada, construction workers use blueprints every day to know what to build and where to build it. Learning to read a simple blueprint is an important skill for all trades.
The most common type of blueprint is a floor plan. A floor plan shows the building from above, as if the roof were removed. It shows the location of walls, doors, windows, and rooms. Thick lines represent exterior walls, and thinner lines represent interior walls.
Every blueprint has a scale. The scale tells you the relationship between the drawing and the real building. For example, a common scale is 1/4 inch equals 1 foot. This means that every quarter inch…