Create floor plans to scale in Lucidchart

Get started

The floor plan shape libraries and templates in Lucidchart provide powerful tools to help you customize your floor plan, no matter what type of building you are designing. For example, the image below shows a multi-level home built from scratch using floor plan shapes.

Start from a template

To start from a pre-built floor plan template in Lucidchart, follow these steps:

1. Open a Lucidchart document.
2. Click the Template gallery icon from the Primary Toolbar to the far-left of the workspace.
3. In the search bar in the top-left corner, search “floor plan”.
4. Hover your cursor over a template.
   • Click Preview to see a larger image of the template before selecting it.
   • Click Insert to insert the template into your document.

Start on a blank canvas

To begin building a floor plan from scratch, follow these steps to open the floor plan shape libraries.

1. Open a Lucidchart document.
2. Click More shapes from the bottom of the Shape menu on the left-hand side of the workspace.
   • You can also press “M” on your keyboard.
3. Under “Standard libraries” on the left, check the box next to “Floor Plans”.
   • Browse all shape libraries available in the “Floor Plans” category. Uncheck the box next to shape libraries you don’t want to add to your Shape menu.
4. Click Use selected shapes from the bottom-right corner of the panel.

You can now drag floor plan shapes onto the canvas from the Shape menu on the left-hand side.

Optimize the document settings

For the best experience building and customizing your floor plan, we recommend disabling all “snapping” settings. To do this:

1. Open the More menu from the top-left of the canvas.
2. Hover your cursor over “File”.
3. Click Document settings.
4. Select Grid and snapping from the menu on the left of the panel that appears.
5. Toggle off the following settings:
   • Snap to objects
   • Snap objects to grid
   • Snap to guides

Disabling these settings allows you to move floor plan shapes more precisely.

Add and customize floor plan shapes

Adding floor plan shapes to the canvas works much like it does with other shapes in Lucidchart—select a shape from the Shape menu and drag it onto the workspace. There are a few instances where these shapes operate differently than other Lucidchart shapes, particularly with walls and doors. For more details on working specifically with floor plan shapes, check out the sections below.

Rooms

When building a floor plan on a blank canvas, it may be easiest to start with the “Room” shape. There are multiple room sizes and shapes found in the Rooms shape library. To add a room, select one and drag it onto the canvas.

Rooms are made up of multiple “Wall” shapes and behave similarly. For details on working with “Wall” shapes, continue reading the next section.

Walls

As with rooms, you can add a wall to the canvas by selecting one from the Walls shape library and dragging it onto the canvas. The Walls shape library has different options you can select depending on direction and size.

Once a wall is on the canvas, you can customize the size, direction, and measurement notation.

Resize or change direction
To change the size or direction of a wall, click the purple dot on either end of the wall and drag it to a new location on the canvas.

Customize wall measurements
You can move or hide the measurements that appear next to a wall to fit the needs of your floor plan. To move the measurement, click and drag it to a new location—including to the other side of the wall.

To hide the measurement:

1. Right-click a wall on the canvas.
2. At the top of the menu, hover your cursor over “Wall Options”.
3. Select Hide Length.

Attach a wall to another wall
When working with individual walls, you can attach them to each other to create rooms. It is recommended you do this as it can affect the accuracy of wall measurements.

To attach one wall to another, drag the corner of one wall over the corner of another. See below for an example. This example also shows that wall measurement is specific to the interior or exterior of the wall.

Doors and windows

To add a door or window to a wall on your floor plan, follow these steps:

1. Select an option from the Doors and Windows shape library.
2. Drag your selection onto a wall.

The door or window will automatically attach itself to the wall. Once it is attached you can resize or move the door or window.

When selecting a door, be sure to select the one that has the door opening facing the correct way. After adding the door to a wall, you can move it to the other side of the wall by clicking the purple square in the middle of the door shape and dragging it to the other side of the wall.

Switch between total and split length
When you add a door or window to a wall, you can choose to show either the total length of the entire wall or the length of each portion. To do this:

1. Right-click a wall with a door or window.
2. At the top of the menu, hover your cursor over “Wall Options”.
3. Select Split Length or Total Length.

Additional objects

Lucidchart’s floor plan shape libraries include a variety of additional objects you can add including stairs, cabinets, cubicles, furniture, appliances, and more.

Use the scale tool

When you open one or more of the available floor plan shape libraries, a scale tool automatically appears in the bottom-left of the workspace. Click the gear icon to show or hide the full toolbar. This tool is for building purposes only—it will not appear in an exported version of your floor plan.

To change the scale of your floor plan, follow these steps:

1. Open the More menu from the top-left of the canvas.
2. Hover your cursor over “File”.
3. Hover your cursor over "Settings".
4. Click Document settings.
5. Toggle on “Unit Scale”.
6. Select your desired scale from the dropdown or click “Custom” to set your values and units for both fields:
   • Canvas: Enter the measurement as it appears on your Lucidchart document.
   • World: Enter the actual, real-world size it represents.
7. Changes apply automatically in real time. Click the X icon to close Document Settings.

Use this tool to set the scale of your floor plan and change the units of measurement. As you make changes to the options on the scale tool, the size of your Lucidchart document will adjust accordingly.

Add the "Scale" shape

To add a scale that appears in an exported version of your floor plan, or to use as a reference while building your floor plan, add the “Scale” shape located in the Measurement shape library. As you adjust the scale tool from the previous section, this shape automatically adjusts accordingly.

Resources

To learn more about this feature, check out the additional resource below. This resource is available in English only.

Community posts
Tips for building a floor plan in Lucidchart 🚧

FAQ

Can I change the thickness of the walls on my floor plan?
No. The thickness of the walls in Lucidchart floor plans is static and cannot be changed.

Can I manually type in specific measurements for a floor plan shape?
No. There is not a way to specify the measurements of a floor plan shape. You can, however, add a custom shape with custom dimensions as a workaround.

Can I type in custom dimensions for wall measurements?
No. Wall measurements are automatically populated based on the scale of the document and size of the wall. As a workaround, hide the measurement and add a textbox with a custom measurement.

Can I import an editable floor plan from an existing file?
No. To expedite the process of recreating a floor plan in Lucidchart, you can insert an image of an existing floor plan and use layers in Lucidchart to trace on top of it by following the instructions in this community post.

Give feedback on this article