How to make your fire escape plan

1 Draw the outline

Enter the outside walls, then the address.

1. Measure each outside wall with a tape measure, going around from one corner.
2. Enter the lengths in order and pick the way each wall runs. It’s done when the outline closes.
3. Then add the address and a meeting spot. They print in the "call 911" box.

Two stories? Add a floor below, and give each floor its own outline.

2 Add the rooms

Drag rooms in and type their sizes.

1. Drag a room from the list onto the drawing, or click it to drop it in the middle.
2. Type its width and depth, measured inside, wall to wall. Small gaps to the outside walls close on their own.
3. Drag rooms to move them. They snap to the walls and to each other. Empty space counts as hallway.
4. Open-plan living, kitchen, or dining? Select the room and set the shared side to Open under Walls.

Two floors? Add Stairs in the same spot on each floor so routes can go down them.

3 Add doors and windows

The routes appear as you go.

1. Drag a Door, Window, or Sliding door onto a wall, then slide it along the wall into place.
2. Select the front door and tick Main exit. Every bedroom’s main route goes there.
3. Green shows each bedroom’s way out. Amber dashed is its second way out, usually a window.
4. Click inside a bedroom to choose its second way out. Click a bedroom door to make it the entry door.

Upstairs window or door? Select it and set Where it leads: balcony, fire escape, outside stairs, or ladder rescue.

4 Place the safety equipment

Alarms, extinguishers, and lights.

1. Drag each smoke alarm, CO alarm, extinguisher, and light to where it is mounted.
2. Put a smoke alarm in every bedroom, one in the hall outside the bedrooms, and at least one on every floor.
3. Put a CO alarm in the hall near the bedroom doors.
4. The checks below list anything missing or too close to a bathroom or the kitchen.

5 Site and parking (rentals)

The lot, driveway, and parking spaces.

1. Enter the lot’s width and depth, and pick which side the street is on.
2. Drag the building into place on the lot.
3. Add the driveway, then one parking space for each car guests may park.
4. Optional: pool, deck, shed, fences and gates, grill, fire pit, propane, and garbage cans.

6 Print

Download the free plan or the full kit.

1. Fix anything marked red in the checks first; amber items are worth a look.
2. Download your free plan any time. It shows every bedroom’s two ways out and your meeting place.
3. Want a map for each bedroom and floor plans to scale? The full kit adds them.
4. Print on letter paper. Post bedroom maps by each bedroom door and the exit diagram by the front door.