Are there any good books or free online resources for understanding how to read construction blueprints? I need this for my friend who is a carpenter, in order to get a better job, he needs to be able to read house/construction blueprints.
He is a carpenter, but has trouble reading blueprints. Please suggest some standard text or something that you think will definitely help him. He works in North America.
I am sure not trying to be a smart alec. I am not aware of any books about reading blueprints, there are books about drawing blueprints. I really think an honest attempt of looking at a well drawn set of blue prints of something that you know about is virtually self explanatory.
If you can read a road map, if you can read the little drawing they give you at the museum or the zoo, if you can make a sketch of what you want to make - you are using blueprints. Each draftsman may use slightly different conventions and abbreviations. Your friend needs to get a set of blueprints. Many contractors may give you a set of old prints. Try for a set of small house prints as these will be the easiest and we have all lived in houses. Study every single picture, see how it is dimensioned, see if looks like an aerial photo or map (plan view), or more like a photo (elevation) and see where the information fits in relation to a house you know about.
After your friend has made a very honest attempt (30 minutes to an hour or more per page), a very short visit with anyone who knows prints will be much more rewarding.
I don't think you are trying to be a smart alec. i appreciate your advise and I think that you're right. I would like to help my friend, and make things easier. I need a book or even something online, this is for a carpenter who is extremely skilled, but has never opened a blueprint.
Perhaps, something that is a prescribed text for a carpentry class might be useful, I do not know, I need ideas and suggestions. Thank you.
Alice, Blue print courses, books, etc tend to start out drawing an object like a bolt or nut and working on the number of pictures necessary for a machinist to make the part. I'm afraid your carpenter might get frustrated by that approach. Each craft and trade has different conventions and types of drawings. What type of carpentry does this person do? Residential/commercial, rough/finish, wood/steel/other, works for the prime/or a subcontractor, old/young, wants to be the owner some day.
If you can work with him and/or if he is computer literate, this site
If you work on these Navy manuals, concentrate on the Builders series.
Hope this helps in some way.
Alice,
*** I *** find construction drawings difficult to read and I've been drawing them for decades. The trouble is that there is usually a ton of information in a very small area. This can lead to "glazed eye" where you are looking, but not seeing anything.People who make drawings vary in skill, but it is always a challenge to make a set of drawing "read". You're friend should 'put his head down and power through' it.
Besides that, I'd say that a course in *making* drawings would help him read drawings because he would learn the conventions (there are many). It would also help him appreciate how hard it is to draw them well.
This just the first hit on a Google search, READING BLUEPRINTS.
- - NuWave Dave in Houston
Not specifically for blueprints, but invaluable nontheless:
Modern Carpentry Willis H. Wagner & Howard Bud Smith ISBN 1-56637-198-8
There may be later versions... mine is 96.
Cheers, Shawn
Bookmark.com Blueprint Reading for the Building Trades John E Traister $14.75
192 pg
Take a class at your local community college. The class are usually called 'Blueprint reading'
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