Guides
Guides to reading interior drawings.
Plain-language guides to the checks that catch interior problems on the drawing rather than on site. No reproduced code text, no guarantees — just what to look at, what it usually means, and what to ask.
The guides
Four places to start.
What to check before approving interior drawings
A pre-approval pass over a drawing set, in the order problems usually appear: setting out, clearances, door swings, dimensions, schedules and coordination.
- What to verify before you sign anything
- The checks that need the schedule, not just the plan
- What to record when you approve
Kitchen layout clearance mistakes
The kitchen clearances that survive drawing review: island-to-run gaps, worktop runs against a door, appliance travel and the numbers people actually use.
- Where 500 mm comes from and why it hurts
- Appliance doors at full travel
- What to measure on the plan
Bathroom door swing and layout mistakes
The bathroom layouts that get built and then annoy everyone: a door into the vanity, tight WC and basin clearances, shower doors with nowhere to open.
- Door swing against the fittings
- Fixture spacing and turning space
- Where the drawing hides it
Interior drawing coordination checklist
A cross-sheet checklist for an interior package: plan against detail against schedule, levels, references, revisions and the gaps that stop procurement.
- Plan, detail and schedule agreement
- Levels and datum
- Reference and revision completeness
How to use them
Three notes before you start.
These guides describe review practice. They are not regulation, and they are not a substitute for the requirements that apply to your project.
Check the revision you are actually reviewing
Most of these checks compare one sheet against another. If the sheets are not from the same issue, the comparison is meaningless. Confirm the revision before you begin.
Distinguish practice from requirement
A comfortable working clearance and a legally required one are different things. The guides say which is which, and the standards pages explain how regulation, statutory guidance, model codes and published standards differ.
Numbers in these guides are practice, not permission
Where a guide gives a range, it is the range that works in use and is drawn from common design practice. It is not a substitute for the requirement that applies to your project, and applying a range from a web page instead of the applicable document is exactly the mistake these guides are warning about.
By country
Where the requirements come from.
One route per topic, with the local instrument named on the page rather than duplicated as a separate service page for each country.
United States
The ADA, Fair Housing for covered multifamily housing, and why the IBC and IRC are not nationwide mandatory.
United StatesEngland
Approved Documents M, K and F, who is responsible for what, and why this is England only.
EnglandIndia
The Harmonised Guidelines, National Building Code model-code status, and state by-law variation.
IndiaKeep going
What to read next.
Regulation, statutory guidance, model code and published standard — separated properly.
Open the standards index Interior drawing reviewHave the package checked instead of checking it yourself.
See the service Review frameworkHow ROMURE decides what a finding may claim.
Read the frameworkStart with one sheet
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