debgreen

That worked, thanks! And I didn't have to change the ceiling height. I see what I was doing wrong, I was changing ALL the walls of the room -- exterior AND interior -- to gables and high shed, thinking the whole area had to be identified. Maybe the shed roof help screen could be modified to specify that only the exterior walls need to be changed to gables? The help screen also says to mark the lower horizontal wall to high shed, which we didn't need to do here. Thanks again. Deb

Thanks Eric. OK, I changed the ceiling height 2 feet higher but still having problems. Here's what I've done so far: The side walls are set as "full gable walls". If I set the back wall to "high shed/full gable wall" (I'm assuming that's correct since it's the highest point of the shed), and the front wall to "full gable wall", I get image 1. If I set the back wall as "high shed/full gable wall" and the front wall as "high shed/full gable wall", I get image 2. If I set the back wall as "full gable wall" and the front wall as "high shed/full gable wall", I get image 3. If I set all walls as "full gable wall", I get image 4. If I set the back wall as "high shed/full gable wall" and the front wall to "extend slope downward" (which I had before and managed to get a shed roof without the ceiling raised), I get this error message: /Users/autobuild/p4sync/dev/Releases/19/chief/source/appmgr.cpp(2171): Warning #272009054 "A wall designated "extend slope downward" must have a parallel wall up the roof slope that defines the roof pitch and height." 03/05/2019 05:46:45 PM Build: 19.3.0.49OSX Not sure how much longer I can hit and miss this. Could somebody please just tell me what settings I need as changing the ceiling height alone isn't working and it doesn't say in the manuals. Image 3 is what it tells me to do in the help screens. I wish I had Jo Ann's smarts -- she sent me an image of exactly what I need, suggesting I just needed to change the ceiling height but it's not working for me... Thank you, Deborah G. Home Designer Suite 2018 for Mac - Build 19.3.0.49OSX.

Hello -- I am trying to create a shed roof section that is raised over an existing gable roof on one side. The existing gable's pitch is 4:12. I have attached a photo of a similar roof I am trying to create, plus a screenshot of what I have managed to achieve so far, and a screenshot of the actual plan. Note the shed roof on my design covers an actual house extension, not an open porch. The entire shed roof needs to raise high enough that the lowest end sits at 8 feet. I'm stumped as to how to raise this shed section off the gable. I followed all the tutorials, adjusted the roof specs in the wall dialogs and even raised the height of the wall sections that the shed sits on, but it won't raise. I am not an architect and this is beyond me. Or is this something that I can't do with my program? I use Home Designer Suite 2018 for Mac - Build 19.3.0.49OSX. Any advice greatly appreciated as I am supposed to send this to the engineer on Friday. They agreed to use my design as their base for drawings so I can save some money and I've been struggling with this for four weeks now.. Thanks, Deborah G.

Hello -- I just spent six months creating our house addition plan in imperial measurements. Our government body who approves variances and permits has just advised that all plans must now be in metric. How do I do a simple imperial text to metric conversion? I read in a help screen that this can only be done at the start of creating a project (!!), but maybe I'm using an older version and this was fixed? Can someone let me know please? If the program doesn't know how to do this, is there a workaround, like creating a new file for metric and copying the previous content into the new file? So far I'm having no luck. Thank you everyone for any advice. Deb

Thank you all. Jo-Ann your solution worked. The correct dialog box came back when I changed the bedroom label to deck and back again, and for some reason floors in bedroom and shop returned. I also changed the garage name to Utility per LawB10. I now have a new issue with the ceiling molding -- it dropped about 12 inches but I will check the manual and figure that one out later. Since the floors are back, I haven't played with rebuilding the foundation, so I think I will leave that for now. Seems to be okay and everything is lining up. Solver, thanks for your suggestion -- I actually had checked the dialog boxes to make sure they were the same but that bedroom kept changing itself back. Also looking at your screenshot, my version of Suite does not have those floor options in the structure dialog, or anywhere else that I can find. I wish it did, that looked like a very simple solution!

Hello again. I'm having more issues with this plan and the floors/foundations. On one of the bedrooms and the Shop (garage), there is no floor. Display options for both 0 and 1 floor are checked. This may have to do with the foundation height changing from that bedroom's exterior wall and the attached garage on the other side. The garage and carport are on slabs with no foundation (basement) below. I have read the manual to exhaustion but I can't find how to troubleshoot this. I have attached screenshots of the bedroom and the garage, and also attached the plan itself. Any suggestions to get the floor back in this area would be appreciated. The rest of the house has proper floors and I have matched the structure information in the room dialog, so I'm not sure how to fix. I am using Suite 2018 with Mac High Sierra. Thanks. Juniper 1B with Garage.plan

Hi LawB10, just a thanks again. I was able to use your plan, make the roof changes I needed and I'm onto my exterior features and terrain. Quick question: did you do that plan on a Mac or Windows? Some of the basic toolbar functions are not working, like tiling. Let me know when you have a sec as I have a ticket in with Support. Thanks!

WOW, LawB10 that looks amazing! May I use the plan to continue? I have to adjust the roof over the garage and carport area (it's all gable end to end but I like yours better). I will also look at the settings you used so I can learn them. Thanks!

THANK YOU ERIC!! That fixed those problems. I see where I went wrong -- of course even a slab has a foundation. I did review all the basic "welcome" videos and tutorials before starting the design, then went on to roofs and foundations as well as reading the manual. But I could not find clear answers so thanks again for providing them. I'll go through those links you provided and then hopefully get that garage and carport looking the way it's supposed to. Deb Home Designer Suite 2018 using Mac High Sierra.

Hi Solver, Thanks for getting back, and Happy New Year! What I specifically want is for the changes I make to register with the program. In this case, I want to know why half the exterior wall showing up as invisible when this has NOT been selected and how do I fix that when there seems to be no other option to do so. Why is this silly 12" high garage showing up in the camera view when the entire garage HAS BEEN DELETED and how do I fix that when there seems to be no other option to do so? Why is the foundation showing as 36 inches when I set it at 18" and how do I fix that when there seems to be no other option to do so? What I am trying to accomplish is for the program to register the changes I have made and produce a visual that reflects that. I do not have images of an existing house. I sent the upload of the floor plan I created, I hope that will suffice. I really think this program is not compatible with Mac High Sierra and I am calling Apple tomorrow to find out if that's the case. I will post back when I hear because the illogic of this is beyond words. Thanks, Deb Home Designer Suite 2018 using Mac High Sierra

Thank you everyone. It may be that my Home Designer Suite 2018 does not run properly on Mac High Sierra, which would explain the insanely illogical issues I've been having. As just one example, take a look at the attached screenshots. From the earlier thread, I had some problems aligning the garage and carport foundation and roof to the house, so I deleted them intending to start over. What I got - see the shot - was an "invisible" wall section that is not checked as invisible, a 12" high garage that was entirely deleted and is still showing up on the cameras, and a 37-1/2" foundation that I had reduced to 18" but won't change to 18". So the changes are not generating. I appreciate your offer to check my floor plan so I have uploaded it here and if anyone can see something off, please please let me know because these are really basic issues that I should not be having problems with and if I can't fix them, there is no point in keeping the program and I'll get my money back. Thanks all. I changed my signature but in case that doesn't work either, here it is again: Deb Home Designer Suite 2018 on Mac High Sierra Juniper Addition1.plan

Hello David, Working and learning diligently. But now it's time to share some screenshots. If for a laugh if nothing else. Still trying to pull my garage and carport along the same roof lines and required foundation. I've spent about six days trying to do this. Didn't think I'd need my calculator to do what a computer should do, but I get it. This is is a professional architect (which I am not) program, even though it's sold as as a user suite, not pro, but so be it. I'm keen to learn, so I'm trying! I have many years experience with other programs and the floor plan was easy. It's now all the other stuff I expected the program to do automatically but isn't. I am looking for help with the roof at this point. I've given up on the foundation. (I see that I have to put parameters in for the visual view, not the actual depth of the foundation in order to see what I would see at ground level.) Here are screenshots of my dllemma and hopefully Jo-Ann won't trash me again. The foundation/roof structure align never did align. See Image 1. So I deleted the garage and carport slab and the second image is what turned up. Please ignore any other images that downloaded. For some reason, it uploaded files i didn't want. Man are we having internet troubles up here...

Thank you David for your kind and professional reply. I did make sure the various display options had foundations checked. I now have my calculator out and hopefully will hit the right sequence of numbers to remove the foundation height from the garage and carport slabs. I will keep trying a bit longer before posting images.

Hi, I am using Suite 2018 with Mac High Sierra. I'm having two problems with foundations. I've read all the help screens and forums and whatever tutorials I could find and I'm still having trouble. First problem is I cannot get the garage and parking slab to generate without the foundation height. I've changed all the dimensions and heights but I can't get it to work. Both are attached to the house. I haven't put the 3-step landing in yet, is that the problem? Haven't got to learning stairs yet. I read on the forums that one has to remove the attached garage and carport from the house in order to change the foundation but I still can't get it to work. Second problem is I CANNOT get the house and foundation to show together. I either get the foundation floating in mid-air or the house floating in mid-air. Advice is greatly appreciated. While I have been using design programs for 10 years, I am a beginner with Home Designer. Many thanks.

Click outside the walls and look in the status bar to see what's selected. Got it and it solved my little problem. Could that info be put in the help screen for tracing an imported plan? Many thanks!

I imported a PNG floor plan, traced over it and now want to delete it the PNG. I found the information below in the help screens but it doesn't say HOW to select the PNG once a new floor plan has been drawn all over it. Clicking on select only selects the new walls and room sections I've just created, it isn't recognizing the PNG beneath. I can't even move it out from underneath the new drawing to get it out of the way. Can anyone advise please? I am using Suite 2018 on Mac High Sierra. Thanks. Now draw new walls over the ones in the picture, and once you have traced all the walls, you can either select and Delete the imported picture, or move it off to the side of the structure for reference as you continue to customize your design with Doors, Windows, Cabinets and other fixtures and furnishings. Thanks.