I have exactly the same desire as Chris_M, i.e. to put a skylight into an "attic" space without having a shaft through the floor of the attic. I have a purpose for this space which has nothing to do with the first floor under it. In my version of Designer, I see no option for ceiling hole in the skylight tool, and I do not know how to insert a faux ceiling over the first floor in place of the standard ceiling. Removing the automatic standard flat ceiling under the skylight in the first floor creates other problems elsewhere that I would then have to fix or work around. Is there another approach that might work?
My house as two different gabled shed roof planes - one in the back and one in the front. They both rise from the front and back walls respectively to the center line of the house. However the back of the house has two full stories while the front of the house has only one story. Therefore, there is a vertical wall across the center line of the house that rises from the floor of the second story to where the back shed wall meets the center line above the second floor ceiling. The shed wall from the front wall of the house meets this center line vertical wall right at the height of the second floor ceiling. The center line vertical wall obviously continues to rise above this point so that it meets the top of the back shed roof. There are clerestory windows in this centerline vertical wall between where the two roof lines meet the wall. By default, the space between the first floor ceiling and the front shed roof would be considered to be "attic." This is space that is adjacent to the full second floor that sits on the back of the house, but was not nominally a "second floor" when I first created this floor plan. Would be possible nonetheless to create a "second floor" above the first floor in the front of the house and have a knee wall over the front wall of this front second story (aligned with the very front of the house) that has a height of zero (or something very small to "fool" the program) and a sloped ceiling following the contour of the shed roof? If this front second floor space is so defined - i.e if the "attic" is redefined as a front second story space without a ceiling, could I then install a skylight in the front shed roof over this front second story space without a shaft automatically being created by the program?
I don't know how this approach of creating a front second story space without a ceiling impacts the structural need to support the front shed roof. It is intended that this this front second story space be used not as "living space" per say but as utilitarian space - for storage and skylight access. In order to discuss this with the architect and builder, I really want to be able to illustrate what I am envisioning. I am using Home Designer Architectural 2017. The way the skylight tool works in my version of the program does not accommodate this. For example, I do not see any options in my dialog boxes or menu items for removing a ceiling hole or the shaft under the skylight given that the front of the house was defined as attic when I first drew the plans. Do you think that my proposed work around would work and be simpler than inserting some sort of faux ceiling over the first floor (which I do not know how to do)?
