When you submit our scan, we try to detect everything to correctly qualify spaces as living or non-living areas. But some elements can be hard to see without knowing the property, floor heating for example or even in some cases or with state rules some rooms might qualify or not.
That's why we have a tool to let you quickly and easily edit this
How to define living area
Each space has a set of properties needed to qualify as living area. They needed to be
Heated
Finished
Enclosed
Contiguous
Permitted
with a Ceiling height not less than 7 ft.
You can define any space as a living area by changing these properties. Here is how to do it:
Open the floor plan in our Quick Edit tool.
Click on the label of the space you want to edit.
The space properties pane appears on the right
Check the needed checkboxes
Make sure the height is over 7' (or 213cm)
Repeat this for each space that qualifies. Then save your floor plan and wait for the delivery.
Here are some video instructions:
Definitions of space properties
Heated: Area is heated.
Finished: The walls, floors, and ceiling are all finished to the same level as the rest of the house, with electricity. If a brick exterior wall is present, or baseboards can be seen (except in renovation) the area would NOT be considered finished.
Enclosed: The area should have no areas open to the outside (except for doors/windows). If there is no ceiling or a wall is missing (to the outside, not the inside of another room), then the area would not be considered enclosed.
Contiguous: The area can be accessed from the primary living area. If you have to leave the main house to go outside, through a garage or porch, or other non-living areas, it would not be considered contiguous. This doesn’t apply to basements, where finished vs unfinished is often relayed as a percent of the area that is finished, and is non-GLA.
Permitted: Any area that has been given legal allowance to be built. Generally, most rooms will be permitted. If an area is or is not permitted should generally be identified by an appraiser.
Addition: An area added to a structure that was not part of the original building. These can be complete rooms or extensions to existing rooms.
Conversion: A part or entirety of a room or building that has been converted from an unfinished area to a finished area. Most often occurs with garages, but can also be seen with other rooms, such as enclosed porches.