Building a multi-story floor plan
Real homes have more than one floor. Find the floor menu, add storeys (and basements) that stack automatically, connect them with stairs that cut their own stairwell upstairs — and sort out the usual snags when a floor or an opening seems to be missing.
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How to Add a Second Floor and Stairs to Your Floor Plan
Add a floor above, place a U-shaped stair that connects itself, see the opening upstairs and in 3D, and delete stairs on their own floor.
Most homes aren't a single floor. RoomSketch3D lets you stack multiple storeys — a second floor, a loft, a basement — that line up automatically and connect with stairs you can walk up in 3D.
The workflow: build the ground floor, add the next floor from the floor menu, then place the stairs on the lower floor — they connect to the floor above and cut the stairwell there by themselves. If something seems to have gone missing along the way, jump to the questions at the end: they cover the snags people actually hit.
Step by step
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Build the ground floor
Draw your ground floor as usual — exterior walls, rooms, doors, windows, and fixtures. This is the floor every other storey stacks on, so get its outline right first.
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Add a floor — above, or below for a basement
Open the floor menu and tap Add floor. First choose where it goes: Add above (a new upper floor, stacked on top) or Add below (a basement under the ground floor).
Where should this floor go? Above for an upper storey, below for a basement. - 5
Choose how to start it
For a floor above you get four starting points: Copy ground floor (same outline, without the interior walls — the quickest full second storey), Import from image or PDF (trace the upstairs plan from a picture and pin it onto the floor below — see Import an upper floor from an image), Draw from scratch (draw the outline right on the plan), or Add a loft (a smaller partial floor, open on one side). Tap one, then the button at the bottom (Add floor, Start drawing, Add loft or Continue, depending on your choice). A basement offers a copy of the floor above it or drawing from scratch; either way the button reads Add basement.
Four ways to start an upper floor. With Draw from scratch picked, the button reads Start drawing. - 6
Shape a copied floor or a loft over the one below
Copy and Add a loft open the new floor in the Outline Editor with the floor below drawn underneath as a guide (Ground floor — use as a guide while drawing this floor). Drag corners to shape it — for a loft, position it above the part of the home you want to overlook — then tap Update Floor Plan (Save on a phone). After that, reshape the floor's walls right on the plan, like any other floor.
Copy or Add a loft: the floor below shows underneath as a guide in the Outline Editor. - 7
Draw from scratch: draw the new floor right on the plan
Draw from scratch (the button reads Start drawing) puts you on the plan of the new, empty floor with the Exterior Wall tool ready and a note at the top: Click where your plan's first corner goes. Drag to move around. Tap the first corner, drag the blue + for each wall (or type its length right after drawing it), and end on the first corner to close the outline; it works exactly like Draw Your Own. To see the floor below while you draw, turn on Layers → Show other floors first: its walls are drawn in grey under the new floor so you can trace them. When the outline closes, the floor is created and you build it out like any other.
Draw from scratch: pull out each wall over the floor below (Layers → Show other floors). - 8
Place the stairs on the lower floor
Switch back to the lower floor in the floor menu — a stair belongs to the floor its bottom step is on. In the left panel's Structural section tap Stairs, pick a shape, then tap the foot of the stairs and the top. The new stair connects to the floor above automatically: while it's selected, the floor above is tinted blue with a FLOOR ABOVE label so you can drag the stair head to where the stairs should arrive, and its panel shows Where does this stair go? with the upper floor picked. Full details (sizes, U-stair Gap, deleting): Adding stairs.
A new stair on the ground floor, lined up with the floor above. - 9
Check the stairwell upstairs
Switch to the upper floor. Where the stairs arrive you'll see a faint DN — to Ground floor symbol: that's the stairwell, and in 3D the upper floor has an opening over the top of the flight. The symbol is there to plan around; the stairs can't be edited from upstairs. Tap it and a message says which floor the stair belongs to, with a Switch to Ground floor button (named after that floor) that takes you there to move, resize or delete it. If a Design Check note says a stair "isn't connected to another floor", select it and pick a floor under Where does this stair go?.
Upstairs, the stairs from below show as a faint “DN — to Ground floor” symbol. Tap it to see which floor owns it, then Switch. - 10
Build out the upper floor
Add the upper floor's interior walls, doors, windows, and fixtures — everything works exactly as it does on the ground floor. For a loft, make the open edge a railing so it overlooks the floor below: tap that wall, choose Railing, then pick a style such as Pony Wall. Keep interior walls out of the stairwell — Design Check warns if a wall upstairs stands where the stair needs its opening.
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See the other floors while you work
Turn on Layers (stacked-sheets icon in the toolbar) → Show other floors and the floor above and the floor below are drawn lightly across the plan while you edit any floor — their outer and interior walls at their real thickness, and their stairs — so you can line up a staircase or a wall with the level above or below. It's off until you turn it on. To hide just one of those floors, open the floor menu: while Show other floors is on, each other floor has an eye button (Hide this floor's outline on the plan); tap it again to bring it back. While a stair is selected, the floor it connects to is always shown in blue.
Layers → Show other floors shows the floors above and below across the plan. - 12
Walk between floors in 3D
Switch to 3D View. The floors render stacked, the stairs connect them, and in walk mode you can climb between floors.
The finished two-story home in 3D — loft, staircase, and ground floor together. - 13
Export per floor or the whole house
Export a per-floor PNG for each level, or the whole house as a 3D model (GLB).
Tips
Add the floor, then the stairs
Add and shape the upper floor first, then draw the staircase on the lower floor — it connects to the floor above by itself and the blue floor-above guide shows exactly where it arrives.
Use the underlay to align walls
Trace the upper floor's exterior walls directly over the guide underlay so the storeys stack cleanly and the roofline looks right in 3D. Already drawn and slightly off? Plan Settings → Layout → Outline Editor → Reposition this floor.
Name your floors
Rename floors from the floor menu's pencil ("Loft", "Basement", "Upstairs") so you always know which one you're on — the name on the floor button is the floor you're editing.
Watch the save indicator
A save indicator in the top bar shows when your work is stored — handy reassurance while you're juggling several floors.
Frequently asked questions
Can I design a two-story house?
Yes. Add a second floor from the floor menu; it stacks on top of the ground floor automatically. You can add more storeys and a basement too.
Where are my floors? How do I switch between them?
Open the floor menu — the button showing the current floor's name at the top of the left panel (in the top row on a phone). It lists every floor in the design; tap one to switch to it. Whatever you draw goes on the floor named on that button.
My ground floor disappeared — where did it go?
It's almost certainly still there. The ground floor can't be deleted (it has no trash button), so: 1. Open the floor menu and look at the list — you may simply be on the upper floor, which can look empty. 2. Check the names. Floors can be renamed, so the ground floor may be listed under another name ("Grundfloor", "EG", "1st floor"…). With Settings → Floor naming → 1st, the bottom floor is called First floor and the one above it Second floor; with Ground, it's Ground floor, then First floor. 3. Check you opened the right design. If you imported or duplicated a plan, there may be two designs with similar names on Home — the floors you added live in only one of them. It isn't in the Layers menu — Layers only shows or hides things like labels and the other floors' outlines.
Why is there no stair opening (cutout) on my upper floor?
The upper floor gets its stairwell only when all of these are true: - the stair is placed on the floor below (not on the upper floor itself); - the design has the upper floor — the stair's panel shows Where does this stair go? only once there's more than one floor; - the stair is connected: select it on the lower floor and check Where does this stair go? — if Not connected is picked, tap the upper floor's name. A stair placed when there was no floor above connects automatically as soon as you add one. Once connected, the upper floor shows a faint DN symbol and 3D shows the opening over the top of the flight.
I can see the stairs on the upper floor but I can't select, move or delete them
That faint DN — to Ground floor symbol is a view of the stair from the floor below, shown so you can plan around the stairwell. Tap it: a message says This stair belongs to Ground floor — edit or delete it there, with a Switch to Ground floor button. Tap Switch (or pick that floor in the floor menu), select the stair there, then move it, resize it, or delete it with the red trash button.
How do I delete stairs?
Switch to the floor the stairs start on, tap the stair (if something sits on it, pick Staircase from the Select item list), then tap the red trash button on it or at the end of its panel. That also removes the opening upstairs. Details: Adding stairs.
How do floors connect?
With stairs. Place a staircase on the lower floor and it auto-links to the floor above, leaving the opening; change the link any time under Where does this stair go?. In 3D walk mode you can climb between floors.
Can I see the other floors while I'm working on one floor, to line up the stairs?
Yes. Turn on Layers → Show other floors (it starts off) and the floors above and below are drawn lightly across the plan while you edit any floor — outer and interior walls at their real thickness, and stairs. To hide one of them, tap its eye button in the floor menu. When you select a stair, the floor it connects to is always drawn in blue so you can line the top of the stairs up with it.
How do I add a basement?
Floor menu → Add floor → Add below. Or move an existing floor below the ground floor with its down arrow — it then shows under the Below ground line.
How do I rename a floor?
Open the floor menu and tap the pencil next to the floor, type the new name, then Save (or press Enter).
Can I export each floor separately?
Yes — export a per-floor PNG for each level, or the whole house as a 3D GLB model.
How do I line up an upper floor with the floor below?
Switch to the upper floor and open Plan Settings → Layout → Outline Editor (on a computer, Plan Settings is the panel at the top of the left panel; on a phone, the Plan Settings button in the top row). In the editor tap Reposition this floor: the floor below shows as a grey guide and the corners lock, so you can only move the floor, not reshape it. Drag the floor until its exterior walls sit over the guide (corners snap onto the guide's corners when they're within a few inches), then tap Update Floor Plan. Revert Move puts it back where it started. If the floor is the wrong size, tap Re-scale in the same editor and choose This floor. Stairs connect floors through 'Where does this stair go?' in the stair's panel — the stairwell opening is then cut through every floor in between, and the stair's Rise follows the floor-to-floor height automatically. Check the join in 3D from the dollhouse view.
Can I reorder floors or move a floor up or down?
Yes — open the floor menu and use the up / down arrows next to a floor. The ground floor stays where it is; moving a floor below it makes that floor a basement. Floor names follow your naming convention (Ground / First… or First / Second…) from Settings → Floor naming, unless you've renamed them.
Where did Edit Floor Plan Shape (Edit Floor Shape on a phone) go?
It's gone. Walls are edited right on the plan, on every floor: tap an outer wall to drag it in or out, type its length, or split it, and use Add Room or Exterior Wall in the Build panel to grow the plan (see Edit walls on the plan and Add exterior walls right on your plan). The editor itself is still there for one-off outline jobs, under Plan Settings → Layout → Outline Editor: drag or square a corner, Re-scale, and on an upper floor Reposition this floor. It works on a draft, so nothing changes in your design until you tap Update Floor Plan, and Cancel (the × on a phone) throws the draft away. Adding a floor with Copy or Add a loft also opens it, with the floor below as a guide; Draw from scratch draws on the plan instead.
Start designing your room
Put this into practice in the floor planner: draw it, furnish it, walk through it in 3D — on web, iOS, and Android.
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