Home Design software advice needed - Totally NB

[BlueChip]

I have bought a big old house and need to rewire and replumb from scratch and thats just the start.
I want to draw up a schematic of the wiring and plumbing so I can calculate the materials needed and the various runs involved.

Can anyone recomend some software that will let me do this?

thanks

 

[fireball]

Big bit of paper, pencil, rubber, ruler and a large jar of coffee! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Ohdrat]

Microflop Tape Measure SP1 did it for me...

 

[jfm]

I'm having a house built and a year or two ago at the design stage I bort some resonably spensive software, £150 ish. Was total disaster. Could not get it to work right. Wasted so much time on it, would have been better with pencil/paper (which is where I ended up).

 

[mikewilkes]

Have built 4 houses since 1978 and all have been designed on graph paper. Q.S.ing was done useing graph paper also. OK the county had the proper plans but everything else was on graph paper. So much simpler.

 

[tome]

I tried FloorPlan when we were doing some alterations to the house. It was rubbish - total waste of money, but squared paper did the trick.

 

[Guest]

As you know I am doing the same in Latvia .... 60% reconstruction ....

I tried shareware, freeware, commercial .... literally allsorts ..... gave up and now like the other's went back to paper and pencil.
Once I have the idea sketched out - I then use the most unlikely program of all .... MS Publisher !! Why ? It has scales at side and top - giving either pixel / metric / imperial measurements as you decide. A calculator with conversion factor of your measurements to the Publisher scale and away you go.
The architect doing the official plns for me etc. uses Autocad 2000 ............. fantastic seeing him size / rotate / extract / etc. etc. Had a go m'self ..... forget it !!!! It takes a scientist brain to get around it ........ I went back to paper, pencil, Publisher !!

If you want to play at it - there is always Floorplan Plus ... but as another said - rubbish. The biggest complaint I had - the fittings / furniture / etc. are wrong sized ... so it has no relation to real life.

 

[wishbone]

Unless you are prepared to learn how to use cad package then dont bother. We use autocad / and generic cad 6 for general design jobs. It will take a lot of your time up to get to grips with most cad programs, you would rearly need a A0 plotter or jet plotter to get best results. I started drawing shop interiors over 18 years ago and still only use the minimum functions to do the job so that we can get the job.

I must admit it was the best investment back then 13k in fact....but saved many man hours of altering drawings for customers that kept changing their minds, before the days of cad I would be up all night to meet prsentaion dedlines.

good luck anyway. one word of advice design cable/pipe runs with future alterations and additions to have easy access points

www.reflect-designs.co.uk

 

[Stemar]

For similar jobs, I've used CorelDraw, but any vector graphics program would probably do. A bit advantage if it supports layers, though, as it allows you to put walls on one layer, electricity on another, plumbing on another, etc.

You can often find the (legal) version before last for a tenner or so at computer fairs

 

[Escapeii]

I use Autosketch, a cheaper relative of Autocad, but as just about everyone has said it can be simpler using squared paper. If you think you are going to go through several revisions of the plans and you are already computer literate then learning to use a simple package simply might be a time saver.
The end result should look neater.
Good luck

 

[plombier]

As someone who was bought up using tee square and set square I have tried many CAD progs out of interest (the learning curve is awful) but found that I can produce a drawing far quicker by hand. You can always tell a drg done on CAD - the dimensions are ultra-accurate i.e. 1253mm ~ that would be 1250mm to me /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Sui Generis]

Just to add my two pennorth - pencil and paper

 

[Otto]

I am in the computer business and have made a career out of writing software. I can tell you this: you will get much better value by employing someone who can draw your schematics than by trying to find some rubbish software to cover this very niche market.

So find yourself a good electrician and a good plumber. Your little laptop at home with Mickey Mouse software has nothing to offer you in terms of saving pennies.

 

[JKay]

Otto wot a breath of fresh air people seem to think nowadays that computers can retile the bathroom /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[snowleopard]

i bought a package called Arcon 5. the demos were quite impressive but when it came to trying to get it to do what I wanted, forget it!

i too ended up unsing squared paper!

 

[DJE]

I use AutoCAD all the time and wouldn't be without it. If I had to produce the number of drawings and revisions that I do on a drawing board I would have given up and gone to work at McDonalds years ago. The problem is that serious software that does the job right is a serious investment. AutoCAD LT is now about £700 per copy and the rule of thumb is that staff training and learning time will cost you about 3 times the cost of the software. If the cheap software worked then I am sure the real stuff would be a lot cheaper.

 

[Guest]

Funny you should mention that ...

Adding access points etc.

The builders / plumbers etc. out here were surprised when I wanted valves and extra bits added to THEIR standard installations ... They couldn't understand why I would pay for extras etc. that they felt were unnecessary.

So where did I want these extra's .... valves to close off water lines at strategic points, valves behind sinks / toilets / bath etc. All to allow expansion / repairs / additions later on without turning off whole system ... (I have a garden well piped to pump fitted in cellar to supply the best sweetest cleanest water you ever did taste .... eat your heart out Vichy Water !!)
Electrics - I wanted extra breakers fitted for same reason - to allow connections / expansions without switching the whole house off .....

Simple idea - but well worth the effort .......

And do you know the one bit that they forgot !! The kitchen sink ... and thats the one that will have to come out soon !!!
And the one bit I FORGOT ..... the tap and connection for garden hose of the cellar pump !!!

You can't win 'em all ................

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[wishbone]

Re: Funny you should mention that ...

Yep Nigel,
One of our best sales functions and designs is showing the client how much simpler it is to include all the extras before the build. We are near completion of a large 2 story extension our client was impresed with our detail to future expansion and repairs why shut off the whole house just to replace a washer! we tackle it like our commercial contarcts and zone areas. The one thing that CAD packages offer is the ability to do text on block...ie import text that will be the same regulations on most jobs, what a time saver! having to write this when we first started of 21 years ago was a bind.......