What is a Section Plan?
A section plan is a vertical slice drawings showing the internal features of your property. It is similar to an elevation plan. However, it shows the internal features of the property. It is common to have the section plan drawn in the middle of the property’s staircase. The section plan is to help the architect to get an idea of the height of the internal floors of the property and the features on the wall.
The section plan is usually combined with other plans on a measured building survey. This can include floor plans, elevations, topographical plans, roof plans. They are usually requested by your architect, and can also be produced from floor plans and elevations but it may take an architect or someone who has not visited the house a lot longer to produce.
Definition
A section plan is a 2D drawing of your house, showing it from all angles vertically. It’s a bird’s eye view of your home, from the side (well..through the house). It also shows the interior and exterior walls.
You can use section plans to communicate with builders or renovators so they can see what you want done in the right way. The plan is usually drawn on one sheet of paper but sometimes it will span two or three sheets if there are many rooms or views that need to be shown on it.
Some Examples
- A section plan is a graphic representation of a building or object, usually in cross-section.
- A section plan can be used to show the arrangement of different rooms, spaces and/or levels within an interior environment.
- You can use a section plan for your own home or for any other building or vehicle you might want to see in details
Here are some examples of a section plan:
It is important to note (to avoid confusion):
The difference between an elevation and a section is that the elevation shows the external vertical plan of the building and the section shows the internal. It is quite common that we get enquiries asking for external sections, which does not exists… So if you are looking for external plan you’d need an elevation plan.
Sample Section plan in PDF:
How to Draw a Section Plan
There are a few different ways to create a section plan. One common method is by hand, but it’s also possible to use software such as AutoCAD or SketchUp. To start, you’ll need to draw a 2D line drawing of your house.
- You would want to start to draw up all your floor plans first so that you can get the layout and vertical dimensions (room height, door height and windows).
- Once you’re done you have to draw your section line and which direction you need to draw.
- then you would want to start aligning the floors against your section so that you can draw your internal of your house, then your height of each floor.
- Then the hardest part is what you see from the section line. Check out the examples above to give you an idea of what features to pick
Then you can add labels and dimension lines on the house plans to indicate height, depth, and width as well as material types and construction details. Labels are useful for showing the location of rooms and other features on your building as well as giving an overview of any special structural elements that might be present in your home (such as trusses).
How to read or draw a section plan.
A section plan is a drawing that shows the cross-section of a building. It can be drawn to show all of the floors, or it can show just one floor.
A section plan is different from an elevation, which shows an outside view of your house. A section plan shows how your house looks from inside or underneath it.
A section plan can give you good information about your house
A section plan is a drawing of a house in cross-section, which means it shows how the house is built from the inside down to its foundation. A section plan can show you:
- The layout of each room in your house
- How materials like wood, stone and metal are used within each room
- How different parts of the house connect together (like walls with floors)
Still confused?
Take a look at this article on elevations.