How to find the floor plan of your house
People search for "floor plans of my house by address" every day, and the honest answer is that the US has no public database of interior floor plans. Existing plans do turn up in a handful of predictable places, though. Here is where to look, roughly from fastest to slowest, and what to do when nothing turns up.
Updated 2026-10-18. Record keeping differs by city and county, so ask your own building department before you rely on any one source.
Where existing floor plans usually are
| Source | What you usually get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Your own closing papers and the previous owner | Original plans, a remodel set, or a builder brochure | Later changes nobody drew |
| The builder | The brochure plan of your model | Options and upgrades change the real layout |
| Old real estate listings | A floor plan sketch and room photos | Sketches are often not to scale |
| Your appraisal report | An outline of the house with exterior dimensions and living area | Shows the outside walls, not the rooms |
| County assessor | Square footage, year built, sometimes a footprint sketch | Footprint only, and not always current |
| Building department permit records | Plans filed with a permit, if the office kept them | Many offices keep only the permit record, not the drawings |
1. Start with your own paperwork
Look through the closing folder, any home warranty papers and the documents the sellers left behind. Previous owners who remodeled sometimes leave a roll of drawings in a garage, attic or utility closet. If the house was sold recently, the seller's agent can ask the previous owners whether they kept plans.
2. Ask the builder about your model
Houses in a subdivision built in the last few decades were usually sold as a short list of named models. Search the builder's name with the model or the community name, ask the HOA, or ask a neighbor with the same house. The brochure plan is a good start, but buyers picked options such as a bigger kitchen or an extra bedroom, so check it against your rooms.
3. Check old real estate listings
Listings sometimes include a floor plan sketch, and many listing sites keep the photos of past sales of an address. Even without a plan, those photos help a drafter see a room you have since furnished or changed.
4. Read your appraisal and the assessor record
If you bought with a mortgage, the appraisal report normally includes a sketch of the house outline with its dimensions and the gross living area. Many county assessor websites show similar facts: living area, year built and sometimes a footprint drawing. Neither shows the rooms inside, but both are a good check on the overall size of any plan you find or have drawn.
5. Ask the building department
The permit office of your city or county can tell you which permits were issued for your address. Whether it still holds the drawings filed with them depends on the office: some keep residential plans for the life of the building, others keep only the permit record, and old paper plans were often discarded. Some states also limit copying. In California, for example, the building department generally needs the written permission of the professional who signed the plans and of the original owner before it can make you a copy (Health and Safety Code section 19851), although you can usually view them.
Ask for the permit history either way. It tells you which walls, windows and additions changed and when, which is useful even with no drawings.
What to check on any plan you find
- Compare the outside dimensions with the appraisal or assessor area.
- Tape a few rooms, including the ones you plan to remodel.
- Look for walls, doors and windows that moved since the plan was drawn.
- Note ceiling heights; most plans do not show them.
A plan that is close but not exact is still worth keeping. It shows the original structure, which helps anyone who later has to work out where a beam or bearing wall runs.
When there is no plan: measure it and have it drawn
For an older house that has been remodeled before, a fresh measured plan is usually faster than a search. A tape or laser measure, a sketch per room and photos of every wall are enough for a drafter to draw a scaled existing conditions plan. Our guide on how to measure a room for drawings shows the routine, and as-built vs measured survey drawings explains which kind of plan a remodel needs.
Free first 2D floor plan
New customers get one 2D floor plan of one floor of their home free, one per new customer. Use the code FIRSTPLAN on the quote form.
- What you send: the room measurements of that floor (a hand sketch with numbers is fine) and photos of each room.
- What you get: an as-built 2D floor plan of that floor as a PDF, drawn from your measurements.
- When: usually within 5 US business days after we have your measurements and photos. If we are behind, we tell you the date before we start.
- No card, nothing to pay, no obligation to order anything else.
- More plans: first plan free with FIRSTPLAN, each extra plan $10 (another floor or another property).
A floor plan, found or drawn, does not certify the structure or prove that past work was permitted. Moving a bearing wall needs a licensed engineer or architect, and property lines need a licensed land surveyor.