I’m designing a bedroom-sized track plan for potential publication and am wondering what a realistic size spare bedroom for a U.S. household would be. Some online research states that it’s somewhere btw 140-150 square feet, though master bedrooms are usually larger. (I’d be willing to bet that a master bedroom would not be available for a model railroad if a significant other has veto power.) I know that there are variables affecting size, like age of home, size of home, region, etc. (Incidentally, modern mobile homes don’t necessarilly have smaller bedrooms from what I understand.)
I’m also wondering about shape (likely rectangular is the most common and door placement would almost always be in a corner for flexibility in laying out furniture, namely a bed or beds)?
What size has been most commonly used in model railroad plans? Have layout planners most often leaned toward a smaller bedroom size?
Incidentally, I examined the blueprints for my home built in the late 1930s and the rooms were in ft-inches: 11-3 x 13-6 (with a chimney in one corner), 13-3 x 11-6 and 9-9 x 11-6. Surprisingly, the master bedroom is not significantly larger than the other bedrooms, though it has a large walk-in closet.
Not being a builder or designer, I can’t offer a solid answer; however, I came across this site that breaks down various rooms by category (i.e., small, medium, and large): http://www2.d125.org/im/ACAD/pdf/room_sizes.pdf. You might want to also heavily consult John Armstrong’s book about layouts to get an understanding of how to design a layout with furniture issues.
Giving you an average is a challenge–how long is rope? The dimensions depend on many factors that likely include location, when house built, zoning requirements, whether owners renovated homes, etc. Associated with this issue is an average layout size. There isn’t one! Consdier that some have modular sets or a 4x8 plywood sheet; while others have layouts that encompass entire floors; even more people have something in between. I hope to not sound aloof in the answer, but there reasons that no standard practice exists for layout size.
For relatively recent homes (last 40 years) I’d say the secondary bedrooms tend not to be roomy, with exceptions of course. The builders and buyers try to keep marginal square footage down, an easy target for this being the other BRs. I’d also guess that more of a homes marginal square footage went into baths, kitchens and living areas (e.g., two vs one).
Having said that, I’d say the above 120SF assumption is likely close. A 10x10 would be small, a 12x12 fairly generous, so 11x11 or 11x12 more typical, the average of those = (121 + 132) / 2 = 126SF. Again, guesses. Online listings now often show room dimensions, so check out Zillow or Realtor.com and see the actuals in some areas you understand.
Remember that BRs contain in most cases a closet and often an entry “hall” that is the depth of the closet or the length of a entry door, so thse gets subtracted from the overall dimension when looking at useable train layout and surrounding space.
If you want to double your fun, design a HO and an N layout, which of course could be completely different, plus illustrated the tradeoffs a modeller could consider.
I also believe that 10 X 12 is probably typical. Remember also that the railroad is going to end up in the bedroom that’s left over after all the family members choose their room so it is likely going to be the smallest bedroom in the house. So what I think you’re really after is the average size of the smallest bedroom in the house.
BTW, I believe the reason that the door ends up in the corner is not about arranging furniture. I think it has more to do with efficiently connecting the rooms with a hallway.
I’m a 28 year import to California and not good at conforming but from an outsiders view there appears to be two standards here. I can’t call one normal because Californians are not normal. 1) Our house, has two 12’ x 11’ bedrooms and a 12’ x 16’ master, that’s as close to normal as it gets. 2) The Yuppies, bedrooms average 14’ x 14’ or larger for small with 14’ x 24’ and up masters.
For me it’s a garage layout. It takes a special lady to have a layout in the house and I’m very lucky to have a special lady but, I also had a large collection of rug rats so there was never a bedroom option available. Ten years into our marriage even the garage was a bedroom.
We’re both retired now but, the rug rats get married and return with more rug rats. We’re lucky to have a place to sleep ourselves.
Seriously, if you go with about 10’ x 12’ for an average you will be close. We have lived in four cities over our 50 years and thinking back the “spare after the kids left” or smallest bedroom was about 9’ x 10’, next up was 10
From its inception, Model Railroad Planning has featured “bedroom” sized layouts particularly in 1996, 1997, and 2006. Tony Koester challenged several authors to create plans for a particular 12 x 12 room in a condo and Koester included where the entrance door and closet were. His goal was to test the creativity of guys who either had or normally designed rather large layouts to see what they could do with these restraints. The results were very interesting. I do not know if 12x12 is normal or average but it is a very plausible modest sized bedroom. Indeed following Koester’s floor plan might increase your chance at publication of your plan.
I am currently building a layout in a spare bedroom. It is 9’6" wide by 10’4" with a 2’x4’ closet which is being used for an industrial area making it 9’6" x 12’4" with a space next to the closet where the bedroom door is that is unusable. It connects through the wall to more layout in other rooms.
Well, there is average and there is average - it all depends on the price range of the house and the location. Here just north of Houston, my train room is in the largest of the 4 upstairs bedrooms (master on 1st) and its 11 x 15.5 feet. The other 3 rooms are 11 x 12.5 feet. These measurements are for the rooms themselves - not including the closets.
If we looked at homes of lower value, they could range from 8x10 to 10x12. If we looked at homes of higher value, well, 12x14 up would be the norm.
Forget about master bedrooms for model railroads, for the likelihood of getting the OK for that is less than zero.
I’d say Tony’s room is about right for the average. It fits the size and shape pretty closely of both kids bedrooms in our house as well as the formal dining, I mean craft and hobby room in our house (who uses a formal dining room now days anyway?). In fact his room is almost dead on for size, door, and window placement of the room I use. Only problem is my wife has occupied half the room with all her sewing and arts/crafts projects, leaving me with just two walls.
Using Tony’s MRP room size would be your best bet since it would standardize your plan to ones already published.
If you want to cover as many homes as possible, I would suggest 9x10. Most 3rd/4th bedrooms would be that size or larger. I would not go larger than 10x12.
In my case 10x12 is my smallest bedroom. The master bedroom is 20x25, but I have no hope of getting that. But I have a 1400 sq ft basement that is all mine - minus furnace and hot water heater.
My first model railroad as an adult was a 9’ x 5’ island style industrial switching layout in one end of our master bedroom. Still don’t know how I managed that. Soon kids came and the layout went. 40 years later (with the same wonderful wife ) and I’m relegated to another ISL shelf along one wall in one of our 10’ x 11’ spare bedrooms.
Smallish developer-built 3 bedroom, 2 9x12(minus) and a 12x12 master, The 9x12s have a 4 foot wide window in the south wall and a 6 foot, two panel, sliding closet door centered on the north wall. The room door is at the north end of one long wall, the other wall is clear.
Practically, the clear long wall could be home to a decent shelf layout. Adding anything to it would involve crossing doorways and/or the window, just to get another 18 square feet of buildable space.
So I use it for a library/workspace. The layout is in the two-car garage, which has more usable square feet than all three bedrooms.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in Southern Nevada)