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Unit: Planning and costing

LMFFL3001A: Plan and cost flooring technology work

Section 2: Floor covering plans

Parts of a floor covering plan


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A floor covering plan consists of a proportional sketch or scale drawing of the floor area, plus details about the project to be undertaken. These include:

  • floor covering and underlay to be installed

  • positioning of seams and joins

  • direction of the pile

  • types of accessories used

  • subfloor preparations required

  • any special features of the job.
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Australian Standard 1884 says that the client should be shown a floor covering plan before the installation takes place.

This allows them to see the specifications and details of the project, and either confirm that they're happy with it or ask for specific changes to be made.

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Note that a floor covering plan is not the same thing as an architectural or building plan.

The drawing at right is an example of a simple floor covering plan for a single room. It shows the seams, pile direction and all necessary measurements for the floor layer to carry out the installation.

Compare this to the building floor plan shown in the diagram below.

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You can see that in this building plan, the dimensions appear around the outside, next to their own set of 'dimension lines' that indicate the starting and finishing points of the measurement.

But on the floor covering plan the dimensions are written on the inside, directly beside the wall they refer to.

When you meet the client to talk about the proposed job, they may give you a copy of their building plan and specifications for your own reference. The plan will be a great help when you start to draw up your own proportional sketch of the floor area.

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But always double-check the measurements on-site with your own tape measure!

You can never guarantee that the building plan will be perfectly accurate, or that there haven't been some changes made since it was produced.

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Learning activity

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It's good to know how to read a building plan. It's not only a valuable aid when you're producing your own proportional sketch, it will also let you check your site measurements against those marked on the plan.

Have a look at the plan shown below and answer the following questions.

  1. What are the internal room dimensions of Bedroom 1?

  2. What length is the wall in Bedroom 2 that contains the window?

  3. How thick is the wall frame that separates Bedrooms 1 and 2?
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