Basics
Basics: the terms that decide a floor plan
A large share of the misunderstandings between seller, agent, buyer and valuer comes down to four or five terms. Living area is not usable area, DIN 277 is not the German living-area regulation, and the scale printed on a PDF only holds if nobody rescaled the page.
These pages explain the terms the way they are actually used in marketing property: briefly, with numbers, and with a concrete note on what to check in your own plan.
Most misunderstandings about floor plans come from the vocabulary rather than the drawing. Living area, usable area and gross floor area are used interchangeably in everyday conversation, but they mean different things and are calculated under different rules. Knowing the difference avoids follow-up questions and, in the worst case, disputes about the stated area.
On top of that come the conventions of the drawing itself: scale, the usual symbols for doors and windows, dimensioning and the north arrow. These are not formalities; they are what makes a plan readable to professionals. The pages below explain those basics briefly and practically, each with a note on how they show up in the finished listing.
Every page in this section
- Scale 1:100 on a floor planOne centimetre on paper is one metre in the room. What the common scales are used for, and why a scale bar beats the printed ratio once a PDF is resized.
- DIN 277 versus the German living-area regulationTwo German rule sets, two results: why DIN 277 and the living-area regulation produce different numbers, and when each one applies.
- Usable area versus living areaLiving area, usable area and footprint are three different numbers. What each one includes, where they diverge, and how to state both in a listing.
- Floor plan symbols and the legendDoors, windows, stairs, cills: which symbols a plan needs, how to read them, and why a legend should be mandatory in a listing.
- The north arrow and orientation on a floor planTop corner, pointing north, next to the scale bar: where the north arrow goes on a floor plan, how to read it, and why buyers care about orientation.
- Measuring and using clear ceiling heightWhat clear height means, where to measure it, why it changes the living area figure, and which values genuinely help in a listing.