I’ve recently moved into a new place. Downstairs layout is a bit crap, so at some point I’m going to move some things round. In the meantime I’d like to start the process by generating a layout plan, that I can doodle some ideas onto.

Somewhat of a rookie I started this with paper and pencil. I’m wondering if there is a free CAD package out there that would suit my needs. Initially I’m just likely to print some copies out and give them to my Mum, who has an eye for things and can then draw ideas to her hearts content. But I guess ultimately I may use them to send to an architect to get the ball rolling with them.

Where should I be looking?

For 2D line drawings DraftSight used to be the best but they changed their pricing not that long ago and the free option has gone. I think they still do a demo which might last long enough to do something useful. LibreCad is OK and fully free.

These are both line drawing CAD so ideal for plans. There are more 3D style programs out there that’ll do way more than you need but you might get hit by a pretty steep learning curve.

I use Fusion 360 for any drawings. Although it’s really a 3d program, I find it very easy to 2d stuff as well. It also pretty straight forward to create the 3d model once you have the floor plan.

There are loads of tutorials on youtube and Autodesks own site.

You can get a 1 year free hobby licence or a free educational licence with a bit of blagging.

I’ve been using floorplanner. It’s online only but free and has an app for viewing your design (no editting in the app). You can upload and scale an existing plan if you can find one (Rightmove?) Then draw over it.

There are loads of apps/websites specifically for house layout, Makes it really easy. I wouldn’t use a general CAD package, least all of Fusion which has an absolutely horrendous learning curve (speaking as a user!)
Sweet Home 3d is a good open-source one.

Have used sweethome 3d for this, it’s pretty quick to map out a layout and has thousands of models you can upload into the library for easy dropping in of furniture etc.

Sweethome 3d

A short learning curve would be really beneficial, hoping to only have to input the current data point in once, then try a couple/handful of alterations out.

Also, I’d not considered that there may be some dedicated packages out there. Having a built in bath, shower, loo, etc, template would be really useful.

general CAD package, least all of Fusion which has an absolutely horrendous learning curve

Really?

I found it very easy to get into. Seems more intuitive than a lot of others I have tried. YMMV.

Ikea do some very simple design apps on their website. Must be other retailers that do the same.

Siemens do a free 2d version of solid edge

https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/plmapp/education/solid-edge/en_us/free-software/free-2d-cad

It’s cool how they’ve made that Sweethome 3D website look exactly like a website from 20 years ago.

Google SketchUp is another option

@grum yep 😃 works really well though, you’d probably be finished by the time you’ve even installed a CAD package, yet alone started wading through tutorials on YouTube 🤣

SketchUp free is pretty easy to use, and is now an online app rather than something you need to install.
Very easy to create a room layout and then basic 3D objects (save them as components) which you can then copy and paste and move around.

How does sketch up compare to something like sweet home 3d for ease of use?

Have the same need as the OP and had a brief go on sketch up and got the basics but it seemed quite a slow process. Maybe I just need to watch some tutorials and have a bit more patience?

I use room sketcher for the simple layouts I occasionally have to do

https://www.roomsketcher.com/

I ended up using vision, cant remember the ones I tried but they struggled with non square or rectangle rooms, I have a couple of rooms with a wall at 45 cutting a corner off for a door, if that makes sense it gives a strange internal layout

might have another look at the suggestions above

Freecad may be worth a look

Draw the existing layout on graph paper to scale.

Buy a big pad of tracing paper.

Sketch your layouts on the tracing paper over the existing layout. This will save you a lot of hassle and make you concentrate on the task in hand rather than dicking around with a computer.

reluctantwrinkly
Free Member
Freecad may be worth a look

I found it to be very clunky

That’s interesting, I have just downloaded it to try-used to solidworks so may be a struggle for 3D work

Draw the existing layout on graph paper to scale.

Buy a big pad of tracing paper.

Sketch your layouts on the tracing paper over the existing layout. This will save you a lot of hassle and make you concentrate on the task in hand rather than dicking around with a computer.

I’ve done this – well, using 2d models for the furniture. Sweethome 3d still much better if you’re competent with a computer though.

For Noddy 2D stuff I quite like LibreCAD which is a bit like turn of the century AutoCAD LT to use and accepts at least some of the same command line, you can save *.DXF format and import ACAD blocks too..

For all my other ‘homework’ (3D) CAD its Fusion 360, which isn’t particularly difficult to pickup (IMO/IME)

But yeah if I was doing a house/garden layout tomorrow I’d just use LibreCAD…

Sweethome 3d looks interesting, thanks for posting…

Anything open source/cross platform (ie available for Linux) for garden landscaping? I just want to play around placing walls, benches, borders, shrubs, climbing frame, sheds to get an idea of how it might work. Will Sweethome 3D allow me to do that?
EDIT: found a tutorial for exactly that: http://www.sweethome3d.com/blog/2017/06/21/how_to_design_a_beautiful_garden.html

I attempted to run Sketchup in a VM but lack of hardware gfx acceleration put a stop to that.

For Noddy 2D stuff I quite like LibreCAD

I have very little experience using CAD, but I got on with FreeCAD. Have used QCad for 2D stuff in the past.

I’ve tried 2 or 3 of the above (not Fusion).
By far the fastest & most intuitive as someone who used to use AutoCAD is NanoCAD.
It’s excellent for a free bit of software.

NanoCAD.

((((Wonder how much the built in LISP engine gets used))))

Timely thread, will look at the suggestions in this thread for the last few bits of the house design.

Can they be used to design outdoor spaces / gardens ?

I’ve been using floorplanner.com and been very happy with it for a free product. There are paid versions with more features, but I’ve been able to do everything I need in the free one.
You can create your existing layout then duplicate it to a new file to then start playing with ideas. Very easy and intuitive to use.

Sweethome 3D looks good too though. Not seen it before but I’ll be bookmarking it for future experimenting.

Can they be used to design outdoor spaces / gardens ?

Yes, floorplanner.com has loads of garden bits to it. I’ve not looked in detail but I have seen stuff there.