House extension & Drafting

Hi Forum

I plan to build my own house extension
And would like to draw up the plan myself

Can anyone suggest a good CAD program that they have used
at present i'm using chief architect but this has a lot of features and one gets lost in learning how to use software.

I will be using Uni Piers from Lysaght and going all steel for base of extension and then woodern framming.

I need to sketch the cad plan so as I can then pass on to Structual engineer.

Has anyone done there own plans and bypassed the expensive costs associated with using Architects and drafts persons.

I did my own plans for a reno a few years ago. I mucked about with CAD but at the end of the day, I reckon you can't beat a drawing board and a T-square. That's how I ended up doing mine.

I use Chief Architect now but find that if you want to go beyond floor plans, there is a huge learning curve and it takes hours and hours of mucking about to get it to do what you want, only to have it screw up and draw something that only Picasso could build.

I did mine and used AutoCAD but it does take a fair bit of getting used to, however there are advantages. Once you have your block and house in CAD you can get measurements for anything at any time.

Try A9CAD from a9tech.com. They have a free version that has features similar to AutoCAD Lt. The only issue I've had with it, is it's speed with very large drawings (compared to AutoCAD Lt) on my rather slow PC.

Cheers.

Vernon.

I've been trying to teach my self CAD for years with no success. I also find the drawing board the easiest, I do feel guilty that I am falling behind the times and promise to do a CAD course one day.....really I will when I find the time....promise...

I have done an autocad course and am at work surrounded by draftsmen/women but to be honest the few times i have done my own plans for council I have used 0.4mm artline felt-tip pen and pencil onto A3 photocopy paper. Availability to descent drafting machine is a bonus though but not essential if you are tidy with a square.

Amateurs here use cadlite (I think that is the spelling)

The council here also insist upon the plans folded to A4 size too to fit in the submission folder - so an A3 folded in half is acceptable.

Recommend you visit your council and get their A4 sheets of guidlines and examples of what they expect. ;)