Does anyone know some kind of cheat sheet that would specify common building/furniture sizes? chair height, door frame height, spacing between floors, wall thickness, hall wight, desk height… this kind of thing. In metric units, preferably.
For the purposes of level/prop building.
P.S. I know that using real-world sizes might not be the best idea.
You might find a book of building codes at a home improvement store, but all I see online are focused lists- one specifically for doors, another specifically for bathroom fixtures, ect.
Easiest thing to do would be to take a trip to a place that sells furniture and jot down the most average of the dimensions listed.
Wall width matches the width of the studs used in the walls… usually you’re looking at 2x4’s or 2x6’s (if you really want to be accurate, 2x4’s are really 1.5x3.5 - the drying process shrinks the lumber that half-inch.)
A lot of times I see 2x6’s used for the exterior walls and 2x4’s for interior walls, so that there’s more cavity space inside for insulation on the outside walls. That, and 2x6’s are sturdier for load-bearing walls.
Standard stud height is 92 5/8in - that makes an 8ft high wall. 9 - 12ft high are also done, but I think you have to cut the studs yourself.
Window sizes come in a number of standard sizes, and how they are hung varies by what the purpose of the room is.
A number of relevant images here.
in the above link you’ll see some images of standard cabinet sizes as well.
In placing things, don’t forget to open doors and such to see if they collide with fixtures.
Light switches are almost always mounted at 48in, or 32in. Outlets are mounted 12-18in from the floor, and if they are above a counter, I think 3" is typical. Here’s a cheat sheet with metric.
Yeah, that’s the problem. There’s usually list/diagram for specific items, but nothing universal.
Also, there are multiple different standards. As far as I know, there’s at least three different standard sizes for doors alone (something like ex-Ussr, USA, Eu and Australian, or something).
Our building standard cover things like standard size of a concrete blocks used for making stairs, buildings, etc and there are a lot of those.
So at the moment I’m using a makehuman character as measurement reference.
Try adding “archviz” to your searches, maybe that helps. I only found this, but I didn’t look for long:
https://www.fas.harvard.edu/~loebinfo/loebinfo/Proportions/furniture.html
https://www.fas.harvard.edu/~loebinfo/loebinfo/Proportions/stairsdoors.html
Residential means a USA New England (Boston) area, colonial style house.
Stairs:
Residential: I would use 7.5 to 8" risers, 9" or 10" treads
Commercial: In modern buildings 7" riser, 11" tread
Doors:
Residential 6’-8" or 7’-0" high, width 2’-4", 2’-6" is standard minimum for bedrooms, 2’-8" is standard minimum for back door, 3’-0" is standard min. for front door.
Commercial: modern 3’-0" wide, 7’-0" high
Hallways:
Residential: 36" wide min.
Commercial: varies by how many people are there for egress rules. Main hallways 6’-0" to 8’-0" +, 5’, 4’ and 3’ in less trafficked areas, side halls.
Wall thickness:
Residential: 2x4 for interior walls gets 4.5" with sheetrock, I would model them either 4 or 5"
exterior walls now are 2x6 so make them 6 or 7". For older buildings I would use 6" exterior and 5" interior.
Headroom:
Residential: 7’-0" is min. these days, 7’-6" is ok, 8’-0" is good, 9’ or 10’ is mostly seen in older more wealthy buildings.
Commercial: 8’-0" is common for office space, It goes up from there.
Floor Thickness:
Residential: Joists are normally 2x10 so with a little extra for flooring and ceiling 12" is fine or 13". Older buildings use 2x6 and 2x8 joists so are a bit thinner.
Commercial: Suspended ceiling panels are 24x24" or 24x48" there is at least 12" clear above that and then bar joists could be 12" to 36" high or more. So 24" to 48" thick or more.
Floor to floor:
Residential: So if you have 8’ ceiling and 12" floor its 9’-0"
Commercial: 8’ ceiling and 36" floor is 11’-0", a commercial stair cannot go 12’ vertical without having a landing. So if you have 15’ floor to floor you should put a flat platform halfway up, 48 " long, (maybe 36" is ok, I didnt look it up). Stairs in commercial are generally in a “U” shape with a platform, thats how stair wells usually work.
Windows:
That other window chart was missing all the sizes I usually use.
The glass doors are very company specific, use my door notes for wood doors.
[ EDIT: I just noticed the number in (n) is millimeters! the diamond shapes are egress windows for IBC ]
I always draw things up to the next full inch, so 2’-6" x 4’-1" is a minimum egress window in Massachusetts.
That is not the International Building Code though.
Standard Windows: 2’-6" to 3’-0" wide, 4’-1" to 5’-9" high, top of windows set at top of door.
Window and door trim usually: 2.5" to 5.5", wider is fancier. 3.5 to 4 is typical
Siding:
clapboards and shingles: 3" to 8" high, 4" to 6" is normal
corner boards: 3" to 12", 6" to 8" is good
I have worked in metric a few times, but that was the 1980s.
Architectural Designer 36 years.
Add ergonomics to your search terms. The science is pretty good behind the sizes of most common items.
I have been looking for a magical book or piece of software that has a large collection of ‘blueprints’ and lengths like this before myself… never did find anything good.
I did find and try out this before https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.SolidDesignStudio.DesignDimensions
but it wasn’t that great… still it is along the lines of what I was looking for …just something better. I’m sure there has been a book made that comes close at least in the past if you can find it. Todays books are kinda rubbish compared to the ones that used to be put together, just medical books alone that you see in bookshops, total crap, the stuff printed now is total shit compared to the detailed illustrations and books that were made back just 30 years ago even.
True. That’s mainly because books are no longer the standard for sharing technical knowledge. I would struggle to remember the last time I looked up a fact in a book.
That looks close to what I had in mind. Thanks for the info, I’ll check it out. (Hope it has metric system support)
