Software for drawing basic floor layouts

Reddwarf · Post by **Reddwarf** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:06 am

Can anyone suggest suitable software for drawing basic floor layouts (ideally free) I'm not looking for anything posh or high Tech just something that I can use to draw straight lines add some text and a few symbols basically what you could draw with a pen paper and ruler but in terms of software.

Cheers

Red

Zman · Post by **Zman** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:47 am

I tend to use Excel for basic floorplans by resizing the columns and rows to form a grid, use borders for lines, clip art & shapes etc

ddlh · Post by **ddlh** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:41 pm

Try Google Sketchup - and its free.

Dave

Post by **HelenPJ** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:59 pm

I found some recent reviews of freeware for floor plans etc (with links) here: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-fr ... rogram.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Includes Google Sketchup

Note: some freeware is only Free for private use

The majority of "free" floor plan software is for limited trial periods/goes depending. Some looks very impressive but the £££ is not always apparent and those that are

which is fair enough judging by the amount of work that goes into some of them...

Shareware may be worth a browse - often lower £££ than dedicated SW companies.

Or CNET

http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.ht ... tegory=All" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Again, some of these may be limited (time/number of uses) but this will normally be clear in the details of the software app

Hope this helps (and don't forget to thoroughly virus check any software downloaded from the internet before installing it - use Save As and then virus scan, just to be safe)

Post by **jonsi** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:25 pm

The Drawing toolbar in MS Word is great for drawing simple floor plans or schematics. you can use colours, txtures, fills, shading as well as the freehand tool. If you haven't got MS Word try downloading Open Office for free...it's pretty similar in the way it works (just doesn't cost you anywhere between £90 - £400)

Reddwarf · Post by **Reddwarf** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:35 pm

Thanks for all the suggestions but I think Jonsi has found what i was looking for, I have word 2007, so i had the solution all the time

.

I sent a hand drawn building layout to some one and it looks a complete mess and i will be lucky if they understand what I'm on about.

So thanks for all the suggestions but the word drawing toolbar is about as hig-tech as i need to go.

Red

Reddwarf · Post by **Reddwarf** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 4:25 pm

I thought i would post my first effort using MS WORD it's basically all that i need i think i will allow a bit more room for text KEY at the top as when you hit return it moves the drawing about and makes a mess of it.

Thanks for the suggestion Jonsi

Red

Post by **jonsi** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:19 am

using MS Word Drawing ...any drawn object (box, arrow, line) has certain predefined characteristics. One of them is 'Move Object With Text' to disable this click on the object, then Right Click to get Format Autoshape. then, under the Layout Tab choose Advanced and uncheck the 'Move Object With Text' box. This means you can type without the drawn object jumping around all over the place, the OK out again.

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:41 am

Hi,

A bit late in posting, but could be useful....
One other option if you don't have access to MS software would be Open Office. This has a program similar to Powerpoint which allows creating of shapes, adding text etc.

Regards

Adrian