Hey, people who know about house building...

[mjr]

For giggles, sometimes I like to look at house plans, and it got me thinking about when my current house was built.

I noticed that when they measured square feet, they measured from the center of one stud to the front edge of another. That essentially "gives up" some square footage.

Anyone know why that's done? I'm just curious.

[wolfie]

Are all rooms measured this way, or is it only bearing walls (exterior walls, and specific interior walls that are holding up the ceiling) that are measured from the "room" face of the wall, and non-bearing walls are measured from the center of the stud? If this is the case, they're measuring potential floor area, since you could remove the non-bearing walls without compromising the structural integrity (although you'd lose privacy, and have exposed pipes/wires).

[mjr]

Are all rooms measured this way, or is it only bearing walls (exterior walls, and specific interior walls that are holding up the ceiling) that are measured from the "room" face of the wall, and non-bearing walls are measured from the center of the stud?

I believe it was all walls/rooms.

[wolfie]

Don't know then. I thought they might have been measuring from the inside faces of bearing walls and stud centers of non-bearing walls.