Drawing a floor plan

[Natjeff]

I am only four days into AutoCAD and am having some difficulty determining how to begin drawing a building 53'-6" wide and 56'-2" long. The grid will only allow 60x40 dimensions so I'm not understanding how to get the whole drawing on the page. This is very basic I know, but I'm taking an online class and am not getting much help from my instructor. Please point me in the right direction -- my assignment is due today!
I am working with AutoCAD 2006.

Natjeff

[StykFacE]

technically you don't need to set the drawing limits for AutoCAD when drawing. but if it makes you feel better, type LIMITS in the command line, click Enter once, then set your limits on the second option. if its the GRID you're worried about, the right-click on the Grid button at the bottom of the drawing area, and resize the Grid Spacing. if the Grid Spacing is too close together, it won't show the Grid when zoomed all the way out because it gets too dense.

what you're probably having an issue with, is zooming. if you draw a line/rectangle/whatever outside the viewing area, just do a ZOOM EXTENDS when done, then it'll zoom to the proper size to view the entire drawing.