Reference
Glossary
Plain definitions of the words floor plans, furniture listings, codes and guidelines use, from accessible route to work triangle.
Each term as this manual uses it, with the chapter that introduces it. Figures in a definition carry their source and what they apply to; none of them is a requirement for your home.
| Term | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Accessible route | In the 2010 ADA Standards, a continuous route at least 36 in clear that may narrow to 32 in for up to 24 in of length (403.5.1). The Standards cover public buildings, not private homes; this manual uses the figure as a reference point. | Paths and clearances |
| Activity | One thing that happens in a room, including getting through it to another door: sitting and talking, eating, sleeping, passing through. | How a layout works |
| Activity area | The floor and furniture one activity uses. | How a layout works |
| Adjacency | Which activities, zones or rooms need to sit next to each other and which need to be apart. | People and activities |
| Anchor | To fasten a piece of furniture or a TV to the wall with an anti-tip device so it cannot fall forward. | Safety in the layout |
| Anthropometry | The study of body measurements, such as height, shoulder breadth and seated knee height. | The furniture you have |
| Anti-tip device | A strap, cable or bracket joining a piece to the wall so it cannot lean far enough to fall. | Safety in the layout |
| Balance | Visual weight spread around a room so that no corner holds all the tall or dark pieces. A preference, not a rule. | Arrange and test |
| Band | A route widened from a line on the plan to the strip of floor it needs. | Paths and clearances |
| Binder export | One file from the layout binder page holding your setup, every sheet, every room's plan with its options, and your notes and bookmarks. It re-imports only into this manual. | Your layout plan |
| Bunk-bed guardrail | The rail on each side of an upper bunk. Federal rules for manufacturers (16 CFR 1513) require guardrails on both sides and a warning in the instructions against children under 6 on the upper bunk. | Bedrooms and small homes |
| Buttock-knee length | Seated, the distance from the back of the seat to the front of the knee. It sets seat depth and the knee room needed in front of a seat. | The furniture you have |
| Changing station | A dresser or table with a changing pad on top. It is anchored like any dresser and needs standing room in front. | Bedrooms and small homes |
| Circulation | A room's paths taken together. | How a layout works |
| Clear floor space | In the 2010 ADA Standards, a 30 by 48 in area for one stationary wheelchair (305.3). A reference point for public buildings. | People and activities |
| Clear width | The open width of a doorway or path at its narrowest point. For a door, measured with the door open 90 degrees, from the face of the door to the stop opposite (ADA 404.2.3 definition); it is less than the door's nominal size. | Measure and draw the room |
| Clearance | The clear distance between two things, edge to edge at the narrowest point, or the floor a piece needs around it to be used. | How a layout works |
| Clothing storage unit | Free-standing furniture for storing clothes, such as a dresser or chest. The term used by the federal stability rule (16 CFR 1261) for units made on or after September 1, 2023. | Safety in the layout |
| Conflict | Two activities where one gets in the way of the other, such as a desk and a TV, or a play area and a path. | People and activities |
| Conversation group | The seats where people sit to talk, facing each other or at right angles. | Living and dining rooms |
| Cordless window covering | A blind or shade with no reachable cord. The CPSC says cordless coverings are the only way to remove the cord strangulation hazard. | Safety in the layout |
| Corridor corner problem | The geometry of the longest item that can be carried level around a corner between two halls; also called the ladder problem. The fit calculator uses it. | The furniture you have |
| Delivery route | Every door, stair, landing, corner and hall between the street, or the room a piece leaves, and the room it goes to. | The furniture you have |
| Diagonal | The corner-to-corner measurement across a room. | Measure and draw the room |
| Diagonal check | Comparing a room's two diagonals to decide whether to draw it as a rectangle. Equal diagonals with equal opposite walls mean square corners. | Measure and draw the room |
| Door swing | The arc a door's leaf sweeps as it opens. Its radius equals the leaf's width. | Measure and draw the room |
| Elevation | A drawing of one wall seen straight on, showing heights such as a window sill or a radiator top. | Measure and draw the room |
| Emergency escape and rescue opening | The window or door the International Residential Code requires in every sleeping room, with a sill no higher than 44 in (2024 IRC R319; R310 in the 2021 edition). Model code, law only where adopted. | Safety in the layout |
| Final walk test | The walk test from Paths and clearances repeated on the same routes, carrying the same load, after the furniture is in place. Recorded as an "after" row. | Your layout plan |
| Fixed feature | Anything a layout works around because it does not move: a radiator, register, outlet, switch, thermostat, smoke alarm, built-in, column or hearth. | How a layout works |
| Floating | A piece standing away from the walls, such as a sofa in the middle of a room. It needs a path around it and a plan for any lamp cord. | Arrange and test |
| Floor plan | A scale drawing of a room seen from above. | Measure and draw the room |
| Focal point | What a room's main seating faces or the eye goes to first: a window, a fireplace, a view, a screen. The household's choice. | How a layout works |
| Footprint | The floor a piece covers when it is not in use: width by depth, seen from above. | How a layout works |
| Get-out side | The side of the bed a sleeper gets in and out on. This manual keeps a clear strip along it and lets the walk test set its width. | Bedrooms and small homes |
| Habitable room | In the International Residential Code, a room for living, sleeping, eating or cooking. The code's minimum sizes apply to these rooms where the code is adopted. | Measure and draw the room |
| Hip breadth, sitting | Seated, the width across the hips. It sets seat width per person. | The furniture you have |
| International Residential Code (IRC) | The International Code Council's model building code for one- and two-family homes. It is law only where a state or city adopts it, and editions vary; this manual cites the 2024 and 2021 section numbers. | How a layout works |
| Landing | The flat part of a stair between flights, where a piece often has to turn. | The furniture you have |
| Layout | One set of positions for every piece in a room, on a plan or on the floor. | How a layout works |
| Main path | A route several people use, that carries things, or that leads to another room or a way out. This manual's default width is 36 in, and the walk test settles it. | How a layout works |
| Maneuvering clearance | In the ADA Standards, the floor beside a door's latch needed to open it, set by the direction of approach. | Paths and clearances |
| Minor path | A route one person uses now and then without carrying anything. Sources put it at about 24 to 30 in. | How a layout works |
| Mode | Each arrangement a room takes during a day, such as a sofa bed open or a drop-leaf table out. | Bedrooms and small homes |
| Moves list | The sheet of tasks that carries a plan out: what, where, when, who, whether help is needed, and done. | Your layout plan |
| Narrowest point | Where a path is narrowest; also called a pinch point. It decides what the route can carry. | Paths and clearances |
| NKBA guidelines | The National Kitchen & Bath Association's planning guidelines for kitchens and bathrooms: trade practice, not code. This manual cites its free summary, which predates its paid 2026 edition. | Kitchens, baths and desks |
| Occupational therapist | A health professional who works on everyday activities and can visit a home to measure what a person needs. | People and activities |
| Option | One complete arrangement of a room, with every piece placed and every path drawn. | Arrange and test |
| Overlapping clearances | Clearances that share the same floor. They work when they are not in use at the same time, such as a door swing and a path. | Paths and clearances |
| Passing space | In the ADA Standards, a 60 by 60 in space where two wheelchairs can pass. | Paths and clearances |
| Path | A route people take through a room: door to door, door to window, door to a seat or the bed. | How a layout works |
| Percentile | The value below which a given share of the measured group falls. A 95th-percentile shoulder breadth is wider than 95 percent of the sample. | How a layout works |
| Popliteal height | Seated, the distance from the floor to the back of the knee. It sets a comfortable seat height. | The furniture you have |
| Program | The list of activities a room serves, with who, when, how many and what each needs. A design-school term. | People and activities |
| Proxemics | The study of how people use the distance between them, from Edward T. Hall's work. Distances vary by culture. | People and activities |
| Pull-back space | The room behind a desk's or table's edge to pull a chair out and stand up. | Kitchens, baths and desks |
| Reasonable modification | A change to a rental that a tenant with a disability may make at their own expense under 24 CFR 100.203, with conditions the landlord may set where reasonable. | People and activities |
| Register | The grille where heated or cooled air enters a room. | Safety in the layout |
| Route | A trip people make through a room, such as door to door or hall to bed. | Paths and clearances |
| Scale | The ratio between a drawing and the room. 1/4 in to 1 ft is 1:48; the usual metric scale is 1:50. | Measure and draw the room |
| Scale drawing | A drawing with every length shrunk by the same ratio. | Measure and draw the room |
| Space in use | The extra floor a piece needs while someone uses it: a drawer pulled out with a person standing, a chair pushed back, a recliner reclined, a bed being made. | How a layout works |
| Space planning | Deciding where furniture goes so a room does what its people need, with room to move between pieces. | How a layout works |
| Square (of a room) | Every corner a right angle, whatever the room's proportions. | Measure and draw the room |
| Tape mark | Painter's tape on the floor showing where a piece's footprint goes. | Your layout plan |
| Tape test | A chosen option marked full size on the floor with tape and walked before any heavy furniture moves. | Arrange and test |
| Template | A piece drawn or cut out at the same scale as the room so it can be moved around the plan, with its in-use space dashed. | The furniture you have |
| Throw rug | A small, loose rug on top of the floor. | Safety in the layout |
| Tip-over | Furniture, a TV or an appliance falling onto a person, as the CPSC counts it. | Safety in the layout |
| Transfer side | The side of a bed a person who uses a walker or wheelchair gets in and out from with their aid. That person's answer. | Bedrooms and small homes |
| Triangulation | Placing an unknown corner from its measured distances to two known corners. | Measure and draw the room |
| Turning space | In the 2010 ADA Standards, a 60 in circle or a T-shape within a 60 in square (304.3). A wheelchair reference for public buildings. | People and activities |
| Universal design | The design of products and places so that all people can use them, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation (Center for Universal Design, 1997). | How a layout works |
| Viewing angle | The share of your view a screen's width takes up from the seat, in degrees. | Living and dining rooms |
| Visual weight | How much a piece draws the eye, from its size, height and darkness. | Arrange and test |
| Walk test | Walking each route the way the household uses it, carrying something, with every door, drawer and chair on it open, and recording the narrowest point and every bump. This manual's arbiter of path width. | Paths and clearances |
| Walkway | In NKBA's guidelines, a route through a kitchen where no one works (36 in in its free summary). | Kitchens, baths and desks |
| Widest point | The part of a piece that sticks out furthest (an arm, a foot, a molding, a pull), where its width, depth and height are measured. | The furniture you have |
| Window guard | A barrier across a window opening to stop a child falling. The CPSC says guards on the 6th floor and below should be ones adults and older children can open easily in a fire. | Safety in the layout |
| Window stop | A device that lets a window open no more than 4 in. | Safety in the layout |
| Work aisle | In NKBA's guidelines, the space between counters, tall cabinets or appliances where someone cooks or cleans: 42 in for one cook, 48 in for more than one, in its free summary. | Kitchens, baths and desks |
| Work triangle | The route between the cooking surface, the sink and the refrigerator. NKBA's free summary gives legs of 4 to 9 ft and a total of no more than 26 ft. | Kitchens, baths and desks |
| Zone | The part of a room given to one activity, or a few that share well, with the furniture that activity uses. | How a layout works |