Guide
Working dimensions and the reasons behind them, taken from Indian standards and from houses we have actually drawn and measured. Every figure carries the clause it comes from.
How much space do you actually need around a bed?914 mm each side is the working minimum. Here is where that number comes from, and what a real bedroom measured out at.
Six bedroom mistakes that survive into a built houseEvery one of these got past a careful review on a real drawing. They are cheap to fix on paper and expensive to fix in brick.
Bathroom layout: the five numbers, and the one rule people break760 mm in front of the pan, 914 mm across a shower — and why a bathroom with no external wall is a bathroom you will regret.
The kitchen work triangle, measured on a real planEach leg 1220–2740 mm, the total under 8230. Here is what those limits look like when you actually draw them.
Which way should the house face? Start with the sun, not the roadAt 8–13°N the west wall is the problem and north light is free. What that means for where each room goes.
How far must a septic tank be from a borewell?18 metres, and it is not negotiable. Place the drainage before you place the house, or you will move the house.
What actually fits on a 30 × 40 plot1,200 sq ft of land. After setbacks you have about 600 to build on — and that is a good two-bedroom house, not a bad three.
Doors decide more of your house than walls doWhere a door sits, which way it swings and which side it hinges on settles privacy, furniture and whether rooms are usable. Do them as one exercise.
How many bedrooms fit in your square footage?The honest numbers, and why a tool that never says no is not doing you a favour.
One window is not ventilationAir has to leave somewhere. The rule that will reshape your plan more than any other, and what to do when a room cannot have two faces.
Wardrobe depth, and why storage belongs on the noisy wall600 mm deep, and put it where you need the sound to stop. Storage is the cheapest acoustic treatment you will ever buy.
Where the TV goes, and where to sitScreen centre at 1.06 m, not on the same wall as the door, and never opposite a window. Three rules that settle most living rooms.
How much room does a dining table really need?The table is the small part. The chairs pulling out and someone walking behind them is what decides the room.
Plinth height, and where the water goes600 mm up, and the ground falling away on every side. The cheapest damp protection there is, and the hardest to add later.
What a concept sketch is for — and what it is notIt is the brief you hand an architect, not a permit drawing. Knowing the difference saves you money and an argument.
Reading about clearances is one thing. Seeing them on your own plot is another.
Start your sketch — free