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Reading a floor plan before you buy or rent
A plan tells you more than the number of bedrooms. Five things to look for before you visit.
· 4 min read
- Corridor area: add up the space that is only for walking through. In a good flat it is under 10% of the total.
- Furniture walls: count the walls with no doors or windows. A living room needs at least one for a sofa and one for storage or a TV.
- Window positions: where they are matters more than how many. Mark the best view and ask which room it belongs to.
- Structure: thick walls and columns on the plan are usually load-bearing. They decide what can change later.
- Services: kitchens and bathrooms are tied to drainage stacks. Moving them is possible but expensive, and in apartments often not allowed.
If a plan has no dimensions, ask for them, or for a scaled drawing. A plan without a scale is a sketch, not a promise.