View source for Building a home

{{Languages}}
==Intro==
You may have noticed, there is a page on the wiki [[Help:How to build your first house|How to build your first house]],<br />
but it doesn't actually show how to do it.

I was going to fix that page, but as it turns out, 
there is a lot to think about before putting down the first stone...

First we should consider
* What is our situation (as in, creative-mode, or first day in a survival game) ?  
:Also:
** What landscape is around us (as in, forest, mountains, or desert) ?
** What server, what game, what mobs, is pvp enabled ?
** What happens when you die, ie. to the character and its inventory ?
::: eg. inventory is lost (hard) / stored in bones / stays intact (easy)
* What do we need (as in, urgently need now) ?
* What do we have (as in, tools, materials, food) ?
:: Note: some servers provide new players with generous initial stuff,
:: or have a spawn-area with shops etc.
:: This will make it much easier.
* What can we do (as in, right here, right now, until sundown) ?

In creative-mode, we can just skip to [[House-Building]], and build something nice.<br />
Same if you already have enough tools, building materials etc.

Otherwise, we might just need a home / shelter for the night,
and maybe the next few days.
: With standard-settings, a 'day' in Minetest lasts 20 minutes.

==Resources==
* [[Tool]]s
: [[Axe]] - to cut down trees and other organic stuff (such as cactus)
: [[Pickaxe]] - for mining stone
: [[Shovel]]  - for mining sand, gravel etc.
: [[Torch]]   - light, for working at night and underground
: Other: screwdriver, flint, ...
* Building materials
: [[Dirt]] - the most basic building material
: [[Leaves]] - 'cheaper than dirt' (when trees are around), can be used as fences, scaffolding, etc.
: [[Wood]] - basic - almost everything has some component that is made of wood
: [[Stone]] - comes in several variants (cobblestone, sandstone, etc.)
:Other
:: [[Coal]] - for making torches, and as fuel for the furnace
:: [[Iron Ore]] - for making steel tools
:: [[Wool]] - for making a bed
:: [[Dye]] - for making a bed

:Extras / non-essentials
:: [[Sand]] - for making glass for windows
:: [[Clay]] - for making bricks 
:: Other ores - eg, copper, mese, diamond ...
...

:Furniture
:: [[Torch]] - light
:: [[Door]] - to keep critters out
:: [[Chest]] - to store stuff
:: [[Furnace]] - for smelting ore, and other recipes
:: [[Bed]] - for setting the spawn-position
:: Other (depending on installed mods): Workbench, tables, chairs, bookshelves ...

* Building ground - Location, Location, Location: some things to consider:
: is the terrain suitable for a house? (i.e. big enough, flat)
: are the immediate surroundings clear (i.e. no place to hide for hostile mobs)
: how far is the distance to the 'workplace' (i.e. for mining/harvesting etc.)

* Time, Food
:stuff you need while working

===Collecting stuff===
Finding stuff also needs time, and travelling / exploring.

After playing a few games, it is still amazing to find
situations were some basic stuff is not available.

E.g. a [[Biomes#Desert|desert]] with no [[dirt]] and no [[tree]]s.
:Blocks of [[sand]] fall down, 
:so you cannot make a roof out of sand.

Also, finding coal (for torches) near the surface is often a problem.
: Note: some mods have a recipe for making coal from wood
: (eg.  tree => wood charcoal, then 2 wood charcoal -> 1 coal-lump),
: so you should check what your game provides.

...

==Surviving the night without building a home==

Without mobs, building a house is not really urgent.<br />
So the following is written with an eye to dangerous mobs, and nighttime.

We will consider the available options in order of required resources,
starting with no/low requirements.

===Timeskip / Fast-Forward===
The really cheap&lazy option: logoff, wait a few minutes, login again.
:If a complete day lasts 20 minutes, the night should last about 8 minutes
Hopefully, your timing is right and the night is just over when you return.
:With permissions, you could also give a command like "/time 6:00"

===Beach / Desert / Snow===
Stay in the open, on light-colored ground, 
like sand, ice or snow.
:These terrains provides better visibility in the dark.
This is risky, but you might even get some work done, e.g. collecting sand.
:If the game has mobs, beware of sandmonsters in the desert.

===Water / Air===
* If there is an area of water, you can go swimming.
:Some monsters are hurt by water, eg. dirtmonsters and sandmonsters.
* With permissions, you could also fly around during the night.
:So you would stay out of reach of all nonflying mobs (i.e. all except ghosts)

===Podest / Column===
This is not a 'home' or shelter, just a quick installation for spending the night <br />in an emergency when hostile mobs are around.<br />
Build a stack of 3-4 blocks of dirt, sand or leaves, and stand on that.<br />
:So most common mobs like zombies cannot reach you.
:This doesn't work against flying mobs, e.g. ghosts.
:Also, beware of [https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14030 smart mobs] !

Climbing a tree would serve the same purpose,
but there might be places with no trees around.
:Also, treemonsters spawn near trees

Digging dirt and sand can be done with no tools.<br />
You can build directly beneath you by jumping up (space-key),
while looking down <br />
and building dirt or leaves (selected on the hotbar) 
by rightclicking at the right moment, <br />
just when you reach the high point of the jump.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Resources needed !! Type !! Amount
|-
| Tools            || -none- || -none-
|-
| Building blocks  || Sand or Dirt || 2-3
|-
| Work             || Digs         || 2-3
|}

==Building a home==

===Cave-home / Bunker===
Digging in.<br />
Needs a place where the dirt is at least 2-4 blocks deep.
:There are places with solid stone under one block of dirt,
:and digging stone needs a pickaxe.

If there is a hill or cliff, you don't need stairs down,<br />
just dig straight into the hillside (viewed from the side):
{|
|-
| D || D || D || D || 
|-
| D || i || _ || _ || 
|-
| D || i || _ || x || 
|-
| S || S || S || S || 
|}
With i=Player, S=Stone or dirt, _=Nothing, D=Dirt, x=Dirt placed as half a 'door'.

{|
|-
| [[File:CaveHome-0.png|thumb|Construction site: hillside]] || [[File:CaveHome-1.png|thumb|Cavehome-entrance after first dig]] || [[File:CaveHome-2.png|thumb|Small cavehome ready]]
|}
Note: at this site there was stone under the first layer of dirt.<br />
So, a pickaxe was needed for digging.
:In the first picture, you can find a block of coal-ore,
:that came in handy for making torches.


{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Resources !! Type !! Amount needed 
|-
| Tools || -none- || -none-
|-
| Building blocks || Dirt or sand || 1 ("half-door")
|-
| Work || Digs || 6
|}

Instead of a door, a single block of dirt is placed.
:You could wall yourself in completely, but then you wouldn't see when the night is over.

See also [http://wiki.minetest.net/Building_a_home#Cavehome_2 Cavehome2] below, 
how this might look when expanded to complete base/lair.


With flat terrain, and no hill or cliff, we also need some stairs to get down,<br />
e.g. underground shelter viewed from the side:
{|
|-
| D || D || D || _ || _ || _
|-
| D || i || _ || _ || _ || D
|-
| D || i || _ || x || D || D
|-
| S || S || S || S || S || S
|}

The player has a height of 2 blocks, 
and needs one more free space above to climb stairs.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Resources !! Type !! Amount needed 
|-
| Tools || -none- || -none-
|-
| Building blocks || Dirt or Sand || 1 ("half-door")
|-
| Work || Digs || 3+4+3 = 10
|}

:This is 10 digs, for the stairs down, and the place to stand.

You might want to extend that place, but you might also want a torch for light.
: Making a torch needs a stick (made from wood), and a lump of coal.
: Coal comes from stone-with-coal-ore (it might need time to search and find such ore), 
: and digging stone requires a pickaxe (needs at least wood).
::So, don't count on having a torch ready on your first night.

===Dirt-Box===
This is the first building that looks like a house/hut/garden-shed.

It can be built on places with solid stone under one block of dirt,
when you don't have tools yet.
{|
|-
| [[File:DirtHut1x3-0.png|thumb|Construction site: stone covered with 1 layer of dirt]] || [[File:DirtHut1x3-3.png|thumb|Wall and corner is built]] || [[File:DirtHut1x3-9.png|thumb|Dirthut completed]]
|}

The design is pretty much like the small cave dug into a hillside from the above section,
but now with a roof.
:The walls can be made of sand, but the roof needs dirt, because sand falls down.
{|
|-
| [[File:SandHut1x3-0.png|thumb|Construction site: sand]] || [[File:Sandhut1x3-9.png|thumb|Sandhut with dirt-roof, completed]]
|}

We collect dirt that covered the stone, 
and use that for walls and roof.

Viewed from the side:
{|
|-
| _ || W || D || D || D || 
|-
| _ || W || i || _ || _ || 
|-
| D || W || i || _ || x || _ || D 
|-
| S || S || S || S || S || S || S
|}

With i=Player, _=Nothing, S=Stone, D=Dirt, W=Wall (dirt or sand), x=Dirt placed as half a 'door'.

This minimal shelter would result in 1 space to stand on, 1 free space, 
and 1 space for the 'door'.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Resource !! Type !! Amount needed 
|-
| Tools || -none- || -none-
|-
| Building blocks || Sand or Dirt || 2+6+6+1 = 15
|-
|  "  || Dirt || 3
|-
| Work || Digs || 18
|}

Making a real door requires 6 wooden planks (needs 2 blocks of tree).

...

===Hut===
====Preparations====
The next step up is building with [[wood]].
:In the standard game, the player can cut trees by [[hand]], without other [[tool]]s,
:but there are some mods that make it more diffcult.

Cutting wood goes faster with an [[axe]].

We also want [[torch]]es for light.
: Making a torch needs a [[stick]] (made from wood), and a lump of [[coal]].
:: Note: some games/mods allow sticks to be crafted from leaves, dry scrubs or saplings.
: Coal comes from stone-with-coal-ore, and digging stones requires a [[pickaxe]].
: Some mods allow to make charcoal from wood, with a furnace.
The most simple tools just need wood.

So, first we need some trees to chop down, and/or loose wood.
: Note that sometimes blocks of wood lie scattered on the ground.

If you are in a desert or similar, you might need to travel until you find some trees.
:There might be bushes in the game - they have a stem inside, that is worth one tree-block.
:And the leaves can be used as low-grade fuel.

There might be a mod that allows to craft twigs from leaves, sticks from twigs, 
and planks from sticks.
: So, check the available recipes.

...

====Work====

# Tree --> Planks --> Sticks
# Tree --> Planks --> Axe, Pickaxe

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Raw material !! --> !! Product 1 !! Product 2
|-
| Tree || --> || Planks || Sticks
|-
| Tree || --> || Planks || Axe, PickAxe
|}

===5x4-Hut===
This will be a nice, small hut with 3x2 indoor-space,
that still has room for all the essentials:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| W || W || W || W || W
|-
| W || a || _ || c || W
|-
| W || b || _ || f || W
|-
| W || W || D || W || W
|}

W=wall/window  D=door  _=free space<br />
a,b=bed  c=chest  f=furnace

The first, simple version of this hut will use a flat roof, 
and leaves for windows.
:A proper roof requires somewhat advanced building-skills,
:so we leave that for later.
(Also, the bed will most likely come much later, 
but we can plan ahead and already reserve the space :)<br />
Depending on the installed mods (eg, xdecor), 
you could place a chair and table / workbench / crafting-table instead of the bed.

...

===Cavehome 2===
This is the expanded version of the 'small/short' [http://wiki.minetest.net/Building_a_home#Cave-home_.2F_Bunker Cave-Home/Bunker] above.<br />
Enlarged to a room of size 3x4, with
torches, door, furnace, some chests, bed,<br />
and a ladder that leads down to the start of the mining-area.

The stones that were dug out have been used to make the furnace,<br />
the stairs and pavement outside the entrance, and for new stonetools.
{| 
|-
| [[File:CaveHome2-0.png|thumb|Entrance with door and stairs.]] || [[File:CaveHome2-1.png|thumb|Cavehome with basic furniture]] || [[File:CaveHome2-2.png|thumb|Cavehome 3x4 overview]]
|}
Now, that's a proper base of operations :-)


{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Resources !! Type !! Amount !! needs
|-
| Tools || [[Pickaxe]] || 1 || 2 sticks + 3 wood
|-
| " || [[Axe]] || 1 || 2 sticks + 3 wood
|-
| Building blocks || (stone) || (3*4*2 = 24) || (mined out)
|-
| Work || Digs: [[Dirt]] || 3
|-
| "    || Digs: [[Stone]] || 2 + 3*4*2 = 26
|-
| Items || [[Torch]] || 2 || 2* 1 stick + 1 coal
|-
| " || [[Door]] || 1 || 6 wood
|-
| " || [[Furnace]] || 1 || 8 stone
|-
| " || [[Chest]] || 3 || 3* 8 wood
|-
| " || [[Bed]] || 1 || 3 wood + 3 wool + 2 red dye
|-
| Total: || Wood || 17+24=41 || 11 tree-blocks
|}
Not included: [[stair]]s outside and the shaft & [[ladder]] down to the 'workplace' / mining-area.

The biggest, most time-consuming part was getting the wool and dye for making the bed,
:i.e. finding [[cotton]]-seeds and red [[flowers]].

In total, this whole building (except for the bed) needs about 3 trees and 1 block of coal-ore.

===Nicer Houses===
For working with stone, we need tools.<br />
Wooden tools are slow, and wear out fast, 
so you should make stone tools with the first few stones you get.

Here some examples of houses:

====Simple House 5x5====
The 'hunting-hut'.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| W || W || D || W || W
|-
| W || c || _ || f || W
|-
| W || _ || _ || _ || W
|-
| W || b || _ || a || W
|-
| W || W || W || W || W
|}

W=wall/window  D=door  _=free space<br />
a,b,c=chest  f=furnace

...

====Small Igloo 5x7====
This is much like the 5x5 house, without corners,<br />
and built with snowblocks and ice instead of wood and stone. 

The staight outer wall is 3 blocks,
and the useable area inside is 9 spaces (plus 2 for the entrance-tunnel).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| _ || W || W || W || _ || 
|-
| W || a || b || c || W || w || w
|-
| W || f || _ || _ || _ || _ || D
|-
| W || c || b || a || W || w || w
|-
| _ || W || W || W || _
|}

W=Wall/window  D=door  _=free space<br />
a,b=bed  c=chest  f=furnace

The entrance-area to the door is actually a short tunnel.<br />
In real life, this area would be lower than the floor, to keep the warm air inside.

====Bigger Igloo 9x7====
Somewhat bigger (ie. one layer of wall around the above small igloo)<br />
(in other words, 7x7 with corners cut off, plus entrance-tunnel):

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| _ || _ || W || W || W || _ ||   ||   || 
|-
| _ || W || a || b || c || W || _ ||   || 
|-
| W || c || _ || _ || _ || _ || W || w || w
|-
| W || f || _ || F || _ || _ || D || _ || D
|-
| W || c || _ || _ || _ || _ || W || w || w
|-
| _ || W || c || b || a || W || _ ||   || 
|-
| _ || _ || W || W || W || _ ||   ||   || 
|}

W=Wall/window,  D=door,   _=free space<br />
a,b=bed,        c=chest,  f,F=furnace

The straight outer wall is 3 blocks,
but now we extended the diagonal sides by one block.

The useable area inside is now 21 spaces, 
and the entrance-tunnel got another door.

If the server runs mods that make snow smelt near torches and furnaces,
put the furnace in the center.

====Small House 7x7====
This is my 'standard' design for a simple small house.<br />
The inner living space is 5x5,
and with a path and a fence around the house,<br />
it will fit within the 11x11 area covered by one protection-block.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| g || g || g || g || g || _ || g || g || g || g || g
|-
| g || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || g
|-
| g || _ || W || W || W || D || W || W || W || _ || g
|-
| g || _ || W || c || c || _ || h || t || W || _ || g 
|-
| g || _ || W || c || _ || _ || _ || h || W || _ || g 
|-
| g || _ || W || f || _ || P || _ || _ || W || _ || g 
|-
| g || _ || W || c || _ || _ || _ || c || W || _ || g 
|-
| g || _ || W || c || c || _ || a || b || W || _ || g 
|-
| g || _ || W || W || W || D || W || W || W || _ || g
|-
| g || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || g
|-
| g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g
|}

W=wall/window  D=door  _=free space<br />P=Protection-block at center<br />
a,b=bed  c=chest  f=furnace h,t=chair,table  g=fence/leaves

====Starter House 7x7====
As above, but a simplified design to be built by a [[Mods/digtron|DigTron]],<br />
eg. as welcome-present for starting players, or to quickly set up a village.

The inner living space is 5x5,
and it can be built complete with interior,<br />
eg. bed, chest, furnace, table&chair, light (eg. a slice of glowglass).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| W || W || W || w || W || W || W || 
|-
| W || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || W || 
|-
| W || _ || _ || _ || _ || h || W || 
|-
| W || c || _ || L || _ || T || W || 
|-
| W || F || _ || _ || _ || b || W || 
|-
| W || _ || _ || _ || _ || a || W || 
|-
| W || W || W || D || W || W || W || 
|-
|}

W=wall/window  D=door  _=free space  L=Light at ceiling<br />
a,b=bed  c=chest  F=furnace h,T=chair,table

====Small House 7x5x4====
A small house presented on the [https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?p=339558 forum] by LinuxDirk.

It adds some internal walls, to make it look like a 3-room-house. <br />
It uses some tricks, eg. half-height slabs for walls and roof, and upside-down stairs.

The corners are made of regular treeblocks, the walls are half-height slabs, turned upright.

The roof is just one layer: <br />
The outer ring of the roof is made of slabs that accupy the lower half of the roof-layer. <br />
The center uses slabs that accupy the upper half, as well as upside-down stairs that also serve as part of the inside walls.

Windows need to be thin glass panes, to fit the slabs.  <br />
The floor is made of wool, to look like a carpet.

So this house is harder to build, and might need a screwdriver to get it right.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| T || w || w || w || w || w || T
|-
| ! || b || ! || f || ! || c || s
|-
| g || b || _ || _ || ! || D || s
|-
| g || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || s
|-
| T || w || g || w || D || w || T
|}

T=Treeblock  W=wall/window  s=stair as wall !=slab as wall  D=door  _=free space<br />
b=bed  c=chest  f=furnace  g=glass-pane for window


====Realistic House 8x10====
'Realistic' in the sense that the inside is divided into several rooms,
eg. kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom. 

Rooms need at least 2x2 (eg. bed/chest/furnace + free space to stand on), 
plus surrounding walls/door/window.

Mods such as xdecor or homedecor will make it look much nicer than plain MTG.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| W || W || g || g || g || w || w || g ||  W || W
|-
| W || c || h || h || _ || s || x || c ||  c || W
|-
| g || h || t || t || 4 || _ || d || 3 ||  f || g 
|-
| w || _ || _ || _ || _ || # || x || c ||  c || w 
|-
| w || = || = || = || ! || _ || x || = ||  = || w 
|-
| g || c || _ || 5 || d || 1 || d || 2 ||  h || g 
|-
| W || a || b || c || ! || _ || x || _ ||  S || W 
|-
| W || W || g || W || M || D || W || W ||  W || W
|}

W,w=wall/window (stone)  x=interior wall (wood)  D,d=door  _=free space <br />
!,=:slabs as walls, with embedded chest/shelf/TV etc.  M=Mailbox  #=ladder to roof<br />
a,b=bed  c,s=chest,shelves  S=Shower  f=furnace  h,t=chair,table  g=glass=windows

* 1 - lobby 1.5x3, leading to livingroom
* 2 - bathroom 3x3 (including interior walls and door)
* 3 - kitchen  3x3 (sharing a wall with bathroom)
* 4 - livingroom 4x5, open to lobby/entrance
* 5 - bedroom  3x4 (sharing a wall+chests/shelves with livingroom)

The shared walls can have chests back-to-back, 
or half embedded into the slab-wall.

If chests show ugly holes (eg. for pipeworks), those can be covered with pictures or frames.<br />
Or use other furniture, such as a bookshelf, glass-shelf or cabinet.

===Tower===
A stand-alone-tower is simple to build,
it needs little space, can look impressive
and might provide a nice view.

We also need towers as part of a proper castle.

...

====Slim Tower 3x3====
The most simple: just a ladder surrounded by walls.

Platforms at the top and maybe at various heights. <br />
Around those platforms, fences as handrails.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| f || f || f || f || f || f || f 
|-
| f || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || f 
|-
| f || _ || W || x || W || _ || f 
|-
| f || _ || x || # || D || _ || f 
|-
| f || _ || W || x || W || _ || f 
|-
| f || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || f 
|-
| f || f || f || f || f || f || f 
|}

W=wall x=wall/window  D=door  #=ladder  _=platform  f=fence/glass-pane/chain/ironbars

====Small Tower 5x5====
We alter between solid rows of stone,
and rows with a hole in the side. <br />
Running along the inside of the walls, we put stairs (simple dirt for now),<br />
and the center gets filled with leaves during the construction.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| W || W || x || W || W
|-
| W || d || d || d || W
|-
| x || d || # || d || x
|-
| W || d || d || d || W
|-
| W || W || x || W || W
|}

W=wall x=alternating wall/window  d=dirt/stairs  #=leaves or ladder as filler

In one of the walls in the bottom row
the center stone gets removed, to make a door.

The holes in the sides can later be filled with glass, to make proper windows.

...

====Bigger Tower 9x9====
Another square floorplan, so it can also serve as a regular house.

=====Variant 1=====
Outer size is 9x9, internal living space is 7x7, Windows are 2 blocks high, so the room is 4 high. <br />
Straight stairs along one side.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
| _ || W || W || w || W || w || W || w || W || W || _ 
|-
| _ || W || . || s || s || s || s || s || _ || W || _ 
|-
| _ || w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || w || _
|-
| _ || W || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || W || _
|-
| # || D || _ || _ || _ || ^ || _ || _ || . || w || . 
|-
| _ || W || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || W || _ 
|-
| _ || w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || w || _
|-
| _ || W || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || W || _
|-
| _ || W || W || w || W || w || W || w || W || W || _
|-
| _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|}

W=wall/window  D=door  _=free space  ^=center - with protection-block <br />
a,b=bed  c=chest  F=furnace t,h=table,chair <br />
s,#=stairs  P=platform/balcony  f=fence/glass-panes as handrail


'''Sideview''':
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| X || X || = || = || = || = || = || = || = || next floor
|-
| X || x || _ || _ || _ || _ || s || _ || _ || _
|-
| X || _ || _ || _ || _ || s || _ || _ || _ || Window
|-
| X || _ || _ || _ || s || _ || _ || _ || _ || Window
|-
| X || x || _ || s || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
| X || X || = || = || = || = || = || = || = || Floor/Ceiling
|-
| X || x || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|}

=====Variant 2=====

Internal living space is quite roomy with 7x7. <br />
Outer size with balcony is 11x11, with added fence/handrails 13x13. <br />
Stairs around a corner.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| _ || _ || _ || _ || P || P || P || _ || _ || _ || _ || _
|-
| _ || W || w || w || W || D || W || w || w || W || _ || _
|-
| _ || w || # || s || s || _ || . || . || . || w || _ || _
|-
| _ || w || s || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || w || f || f
|-
| _ || W || s || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || . || W || P || f
|-
| P || D || _ || _ || _ || ^ || _ || _ || _ || D || P || f
|-
| _ || W || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || W || P || f 
|-
| _ || w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || w || f || f
|-
| _ || w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || w || _
|-
| _ || W || w || w || W || D || W || w || w || W || _
|-
| _ || _ || _ || _ || P || P || P || _ || _ || _ || _
|}

W=wall/window  D=door  _=free space  ^=center - with protection-block, maybe ladder <br />
a,b=bed  c=chest  F=furnace t,h=table,chair <br />
s,#=stairs  P=platform/balcony  f=fence/glass-panes as handrail

Stairs are running around one corner of the tower. <br />
On the next floor, it would continue (...) where the last stairs arrive. <br />
So, the stairs make one complete turn after every 4 floors. <br />
There is room below the stairs for 2 or 3 blocks, eg. chests and/or furnace.

To make the stairs fit, Windows need to be 1 block high, rooms 3 high.

...

====Round Tower 9x9====
A tower of size 7x7 with cut-off corners is the minimum to make it look somewhat 'round'.

With 9x9, it will look more well-rounded:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| _ || _ || W || W || W || W || W || _ || _ || 
|-
| _ || W || w || _ || _ || _ || w || W || _ ||  
|-
| W || w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || w || W ||  
|-
| W || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || W ||  
|-
| W || _ || _ || _ || X || _ || _ || _ || W ||  
|-
| W || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || W ||  
|-
| W || w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || w || W ||  
|-
| _ || W || w || _ || _ || _ || w || W || _ ||  
|-
| _ || _ || W || W || D || W || W || _ || _ || 
|}

W=wall/window  D=door  _=free space<br />
x=center

...

===Castle===
The general layout of a castle might look like this,
with a moat outside:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| T || w || w || w || w || w || T
|-
| w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || w
|-
| w || _ || _ || K || _ || _ || w
|-
| w || _ || _ || _ || _ || _ || w
|-
| T || w || T || G || T || w || T
|}

T=Tower  w=wall  G=Gate   K=Keep

Those towers at the corners would be at least 5x5,
and the keep 7x7 or bigger.<br />
Walls would be 2 or 3 thick, so you can walk on them.<br />
When each tower or section of wall has a width of 5,
the whole building would be size 35x35.<br />

With protection-areas of size 16x16, we need 9 of those
to cover an area of 48x48.<br />
So, a moat of width 6 would fit inside the protected area as well.

The area-mod is often set to allow to protect an area of size 64x128x64,
so we could size up our castle a bit.

Advice: Protect the whole building-site 
(plus some of the surrounding area)
before you start building.<br />
It would be annoying if someone claimed some part of your intended project.

Also, have a look at mods like castle-masonry, castle-gates, castle-weapons, castle++

====Real-live castles====
with floorplans:
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodiam_Castle Bodiam Castle] - moated, quadrangular castle with 4 round towers at the corners, <br />with a central courtyard, no keep, square towers in the walls, and 2 gatehouses with a barbican in front of the main gate. Size about 50x60.

...

[[Category:Tutorials]]