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Design and customize your own home, cabin, cottage or addition.

PlanHelp is a subscription website where designers, builders and home owners come to find tools to customize a house plan or home building project.

Many of our members come over from our CountryPlans website where we have simple to build homes and a very active free forum.

Use our downloadable site tools as a starting point to evaluate your property or preplan your house. You may wish to add to an ongoing project with some of our plan details. Or, perhaps you find that one of our CountryPlans.com stock plans comes close to meeting your needs. With the proper software and our floor plan templates you may be able to customize the plan to better fit your needs.

When you join PlanHelp.com ($29 for 3 months, $9.95/mo thereafter) you immediately have access to our list of download plans, reports, details and design templates: Vist the Download Library.

To learn more about using downloadable and customizable plans see this article: How to use Plan Templates.

Also read some example articles below.

Note: The paper plans the templates plans are based on are not included in your PlanHelp subscription. They are available at CountryPlans.com.

Using Template files for a customized home plan.
Customize a house plan before or after you buy the paper plans. Here are step by step instructions on how to download and modify floorplans and then print and paste these scaled changes into the paper plans. . . . More...

Thinking like Water
Understanding flashings and rain screens. How to keep a house dry and rot free. . . . More...

Stair Tutorial
Here is a quick overview of stair design with suggestions for using the 3DHA program (BH&G Home Designer similar) . . . More...

The Greatest Nail ever made?
New advancements in nail technology allow a standard 2000 sf house to have almost double the strength and rigidity needed to stand up to earthquake and wind forces - all for about $15 extra in nail costs! . . . More...

How to determine joist and rafter sizes
Here is an easy-to-use on-line calculator that will size floor and deck joists and roof rafters for most standard conditions. Use this to determine how to frame up your preliminary design. . . . More...

The 5 ways to Build Your House
There many options between giving the project to your architect and building every stick of the place yourself. You can decide how much or how little you want to be involved. Check out the road map and see what works best for you. . . . More...

How to Grab Plans from Magazines & Books
Using simple drawing tools and a copy machine you can scale up a small magazine plan to usable size. In addition you can turn a real estate map into your site plan, and cut and paste plan elements from different sources into your own custom floor plan. . . . More...

Working with the Building Inspector
Tips for getting your building permit. How to understand, work with and even have FUN with your government agencies. HINT: it's not as painful as dental work. . . . More...

Working with Builders - the old fashioned way
Many smaller communities still have a "pre-legal" system of mutual help and trust when it comes to the building trades. This is one of the greatest aspects of working on your own home - tapping into and joining this network. . . . More...

Soil Smarts and building your foundation
The characteristics of the soil under your footings will have a major role to play in determining the lifetime of your home. This article will explain how to get to know this important bit of dirt. . . . More...

Visual Guide to House Parts

A cut away interactive house lets you click to learn what each part does. . . . More...

Plans Gallery
The Gallery of owner designs and projects. . . . More...

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