FlightDeck

Thanks but as I said, I can't extend any of the walls. It's not how the real building was actually constructed. It's all open under the stairs. It's a small utility room/closet space maybe only 6 ft by 5 ft total, containing a hot water tank and a stacked washer/dryer and some storage space under the stairs. I appreciate the effort though! Eric's method of lifting up the bottom of a wall section to align with the underside of the stairs was very promising at first, however I was unable to patch the missing drywall shown in his pic. I could get the portion under the stair stringer covered with a sloped soffit, but I was unable to cover the portion missing from the corner of the wall. The hole there seemed to "eat" a chunk out any soffit I put there so it was impossible to cover it. I've currently used the soffit method to close it the wall gap instead of the wall raise method. Soffits were easier to make the underside clean up properly. Here's the result in the actual model: Note the shading effects on the soffits don't match the stairs even though the colour / material is the same (drywall). Weird. (The stuff over the water tank and dryer is unrelated and is just a ceiling bulkhead for a duct and a built-in shelf.) Unfortunately a piece of the stair stringer trim is missing where the soffit is. Haven't figured that part out yet: I was however able to put Eric's wall shaping tip to great use on a sloped wall top for a privacy screen on the deck. Thanks again, Eric!

Thanks but as I mentioned in original post that doesn't work as it cuts up the space in the room if it drops all the way down to the floor.

WE CAN DRAG THE TOPS / BOTTOMS OF WALLS??!!???!!! Excuse me while I go outside to scream for a while!!... When the - ??!! This would have been useful so many times! Is this in HDA as well?? If it was I could have used exactly this feature for some vaulted ceiling situations, but was always told I had to buy the Pro version! Also thinking maybe I can use this for the top of a tapered privacy screen on a deck I've been working on. Okay thanks Eric!! I'm playing with this option now. Yes unfortunately it leaves holes in the drywall (but thankfully not the floor or mouldings).

Okay underatanding a little better now. After placing a soffit you can check "Sloped Soffit" in its properties to make it go up/down inclines. Maybe that helps?

Thanks, Elovia. Yes that's what I've done as a workaround. Was hoping there was a built-in stair or wall configuration option that would do it automatically, and so that it updates the geometry automatically if I need to make change. Also I can't change the colours on the different sides of the wedge/soffit independently for the two rooms (without actually using multiple soffit/wedges to represent each layer of drywall).

Yeah without a photo or something I'm really not understanding what you want to do. You want to increase the roof overhang beyond the wall another 8"?

Hi Keith, it looks okay to me. Something is missing? Can you better explain what you want to add? A photo might help.

Hi all I have a stair situation I'm working on in one of my models. I've made a test plan to demonstrate it: StairGap1.zip There is a "storage" room (teal) under the stairs, and a "bathroom" (brown) also neighbouring the stairs (the room names are just arbitrary to help refer to areas easier). As you can see there is a large triangular gap in the wall above the stairs. It lets us see from the main room into the storage room and vice versa. I know how to make walls stop at the *underside* of stairs, and there is one of those used here. What I need is the opposite, to make an upper wall stop at the *topside* of stairs, to close in that gap. Is there a built-in feature to do this? Or am I stuck with band-aiding an inverted wedge on the wall to close in the gap? Alternatively, if I extend the bathroom wall more along the stairs it would close in the gap, however it cuts up the space in the storage room since the wall goes right down to the floor. I would then need a method to remove the triangular section of the wall that is between the stair stringer and the floor. Thanks and regards

How do you do this? When I try to place a soffit it a triangular wall corner it is always rectangular. I am currently using custom countertops as Eric also suggested. Seems to be better behaved for indoor use than slabs.

Thanks, Eric. So it is slabs then. (Dunno why we can't shape soffits or have rotated wedges.) Slabs are a bit annoying as they use absolute reference for a height whereas soffits are relative to floors. Just makes it more cumbersome to get them all in place and update after modications. I wonder if I could just take a wedge into Sketchup and rotate it so the angled side is in top view and then reimport it?

Thanks, Jeffrey. That's what I've been doing until now but it doesn't suffice in my current model. I need the soffits to terminate at the angled wall so they don't protrude out the other side of the wall.

Sorry, Jeffrey, I should have said I need this in the 3-D model, not just on the 2-D plans. (I mentioned "top down view" only to specify from which viewing direction I need the soffit to be angled. You got the angle situation right but I need it in 3D in the model.)

Hi, how can I make non-rectangular soffits (in top-down plan view)? For example if a soffit is representing a duct bulkhead running across a ceiling and it meets an angled wall, I want the soffit to terminate neatly at the same angle as the wall. So in top-view it needs a triangular end. I can't seem to adjust soffits to anything other than rectangles. And none of the wedges are oriented correctly to provide angled sides in *top view*. Do I use a slab for this and shape it? Thanks

This might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_in_architecture_in_the_United_States You can easily (and should always) stamp stuff you create/design with a copyright notice if you're sharing it with others. Makes them think twice (unfortunately some aren't too bright...). As the article explains though, if you don't actually register the copyright, bringing a claim against someone using your creation becomes more difficult, and your ability to recover damages is much more limited. (For any Canadians reading along, the story is different. Registration of copyright is generally not required in Canada.) Good builders should already be used to dealing with designs created by professional architects and therefore know better than to rip them off. They should treat any design you bring to them no differently.

That was the way the earlier options were. I used "Porous Concrete" for it (since changed to "Rough Stucco"). I'm now up to iteration 6 or 7 lol. It gets really finicky when connecting with other wall types. Can't seem to find a combination that does everything I'd like. I guess as long as the interior and exterior surfaces look okay, I shouldn't really worry too much about what's going on inside the wall!

Good grief, I just found this in the knowledge base: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00419/specifying-a-windows-inset-in-thick-walls.html Technically it doesn't help in my specific situation, but it is another control over window recess amount. Posting it here for anybody looking for options in the future.

I was thinking the same thing, from the room it would look perfect! Also my understanding is that at least one of the pieces should always extend to the wall, while the intersecting piece is trimmed carefully with a coping saw to join it. If instead they are mitred there can be visible gaps in the corners with expansion/contraction. I'm not sure which method the software uses, but I suspect it's a mitred corner. No idea what's happening in Alan's picture though!

Okay here's the latest attempt, with the inner 4" of brick and the 3/4" parging combined into a single 4-3/4" layer: Windows set to "Recess to Sheathing Layer". Pros: Window is recessed correctly. Floor/ceiling platform will not protrude into the parging. Cons: Parging no longer exists as a separately specified layer. Does this look like the best option here?

Whups, thanks Eric, your reply came in while I was typing my extra post. Okay if there are no other options then it sounds like my experments above are going in the right direction. The brick varies depending on the part of the building. Lower levels appear to be 3 wythe and upper levels are 2 wythe. There are some buttresses that are 3 and 4 wythe.

...While I'm still asking if any of you know of other options elsewhere to control the window recess depth, I've been experimenting more with the 3 I found and I now have a better understanding of what they do (it helps to have really thick wall layers to see the difference!). I have created two new wall definitions, each with the 8" brick layer split into two 4" layers: And here they are with windows in them: The first definition puts half the brick into the Main Layer. I set the window to "Recess to Main Layer". It's the lower window in the picture. Pros: Window recessed correctly. Cons: Floor/ceiling platforms extend into the brick wall, which isn't correct for this particular building. The second definition leaves the brick layers in the Exterior Layer and moves the parging to the Main Layer. I set the window to "Recess to Sheathing Layer". The software treats the innermost layer of the Exterior Layer as the sheathing, in this case the innermost brick layer. It's the upper window shown in the picture. Pros: Window recessed correctly. Cons: Floor/ceiling platforms extend into the parging, which isn't correct for this particular building..., but I could live with it. Also the steel studs have been moved into the Main Layer. I could also combine the inner brick and the parging into a single 4-3/4" layer so that the window is correctly recessed and the floor/ceiling platforms stop at the parging face as it's supposed to. The parging would not display as its own layer though. Still hoping someone here knows another option to control window recess depth! Thanks,

A quick guess... You have an exterior wall running through the interior where the two section of the building meet. Take that wall out, replacing it with an interior wall if needed. I think it's trying to attach a roof to that piece of exterior wall, at a different height that you have the rooms defined.

Hi all, Okay this is really getting down in the weeds, but I'd like to know if there is more control somewhere in Pro over the amount that windows (and doors) are recessed into exterior walls. In the window properties there are some recess options however there are only 3 and none of them fit my situation. Here is a typical wall in the bldg: From the outside-in the major wall layers are about 8 inches of brick, some parging, then steel studs and drywall. I created a new wall definition for this: You can see I have the brick in the Exterior Layers and the steel studs in the Main Layer. The software places windows/doors in Main Layer, and so puts them in the steel studs. The windows/doors are actually in the brick. So I need to somehow move the windows/doors from the steel studs to the brick. The recess options in the window properties only control the placement of the window within the Main Layer of the wall definition. There is no control to move the window out of the Main Layer to the Exterior Layer. I thought of defining my wall with brick as the Main Layer, and no Exterior Layer at all, however this does not end well, lol. The floor/ceiling platforms are visible through the wall because there is no exterior to cover them. Also it's not structurally correct as the brick layer in this wall does not support the floors. (The building was an old school converted to condos with the addition of a steel column-beam skeleton inside so that the brick walls are more-or-less not load bearing. All the floors/ceiling are supported by the steel skeleton. Frankenbuilding .) The only other option I could think of would be to "cheat" it by defining the 8" of brick as two layers, with 4" in the Exterior Layer and 4" in the Main Layer, and moving the steel studs to the Interior Layer (which is actually more correct). This would then place the windows/doors where I need them, while keeping the structure about as close to correct as I can get it. Before doing that though, is there another option somewhere that controls the depth that windows/doors are recessed into walls? Or is it just the 3 that I already found in the window properties? Thanks and regards,

Agreed. Took me a few mins to figure it out as well. I think there is a tutorial video or article in the knowledge base for it.

There would be no way to put them in alignment with the 1st floor, due to the design of the building. I didn't bother posting the plan for something like this as it was either going to be possible with a basic adjustment or it was going to be a pain not worth the effort. Plus the plan is over 200 MB (and only partly done, lol). Thanks anyway though.

I fell that it's not going to work without a tedious amount of effort that will probably break the model. It's a 5-level apt bldg with lots of vaulted ceilings and drop floors. I wanted to simply shift all the absolute values upwards but leaving all the relative geomtry the way it is. I thought I could simply change the floor elevation for the 1st floor in the default settings, but the option is greyed out. Doing it piece-wise on a room-by-room / object-by-object basis for every single level is going to break so many parts of the model during the intermediate steps when things aren't aligned. It's not worth the effort in my case.