DavidJPotter

This is not a true statement, only you are responsible for any outcomes good or bad. When you have taken full responsibility for learning the software then you will have fewer problems that only you and your ignorance are causing. Please do not take this personally , all new users do as you have done. You will save yourself a lot of grief to not guess what to do but rather find out what to do and not do so the software then becomes an ally and you become competent with it. Part of the learning curve is finding out what the software can and can't do. DJP

Depending upon what software you have "Display Options" while in plan view DJP

Post a copy of your plan please, let others take a look. DJP

What software title and version are you using? What did you actually do to create the deck? Please post a copy of your troublesome plan file. DJP

You have the right idea, be sure your "save-as" name can be clearly understood later. DJP

"Home Designer" is too generalized to be useful as Eric pointed out. Home Designer Pro, Architectural and Suite all have the ability to "slope soffits". That ability is vital to arriving at the look of vaulted ceiling beams. If you do not have one of these programs you will have to upgrade in order to do as you wish. DJP

The auto roof planes generator first "reads" the ceiling height settings of each room specification dialog, so if you result in varying fascia heights the tool is reading varying ceiling heights, reacting accordingly. So if you are manually repairing this you first must make sure that adjoining roof planes match in their Roof plan Specification dialogs have matching values for " Fascia Top, Baseline height and pitch". When you have achieved in all adjacent roof planes you can then easily join them using the "Join Roof Planes tool". There are several video tutorials on my You Tube site demonstrating the above, look for them. DJP

Frances, You need to toggle up to the <A> or attic level and find the wall that is building short over the porch and manually extend its length to the left so it fills in properly, The software does this sort of thing all the time and it is up to you to then repair such short falls. DJP

No screen image was included. First thing you should do is learn how to use the software you bought (Read the Reference Manual and stop guessing please). What I would do is to turn off newel posts (set them to 1/16" on the newels and balusters tab). Then I would create and align a Terrain Plane to the house. Then I would place columns I wanted manually from the Library Browser. then I would use the click stairs tool which auto calculates how many treads are necessary to bridge from a porch or deck to the terrain plane. Lastly there are two ways to handle the deck or porch: 1. You can go to level zero (foundation) and manually draw stem walls under the front porch or 2. By way of the structure tab of the front porch you can thicken the front porch slab setting to be the thickness you desire. It is all in the Reference Manual sections. DJP

What I have had to do on remodel jobs like this is to take a similar material and make it look like asbestos siding. Since asbestos siding is no longer legal to buy is why no such materials exist in the library browser. You might search the web for siding images that you might then download and then import as custom materials also. DJP

You should carefully read the Reference Manual sections that address framing and the framing dialog. I think that is what you need to do and then practice what you learned. DJP

These Knowledge Base articles may help you: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/search/?q=story+and+a+half DJP

I am sorry in that I made a video but the sound did not record for some reason. What I did was to add a room above the room where you wanted the 18' ceiling. I designated it "Open Below" so as to remove the floor. On the first floor I opened the dialog boxes for the kitchen and great room and unchecked "ceiling" making the second floor room the one that defines the ceiling for both spaces. I then added a cabinet soffit over the exposed section of the room common with the house. The edited file is attached below. DJP File DMA-E_08-26-16.plan

You can predetermine which sliding window is to be default for any plan by way of Window Defaults - Sliding Window, I do not care what you call it. OR you can simply select the window in plan view and in the Edit Tool Bar for that window you can make it slide in any direction you wish on the fly. DJP

Like most new users you have overlooked "Edit - Default Settings - Windows, Doors, Materials etc etc. If you train yourself to set those Default Settings first before you do a lot of drawing, it saves you a lot of time later. Your software is a mechanical device that you lead to a desired result by settings and using proper, learned procedures. DJP

I am sorry to say that Architectural is missing the one of the key tools that you need to fix your plan, the other is the use of a pony wall which you have. The tool missing in Architectural that is present in HD Pro is "Custom Ceiling Planes". Perhaps someone else can offer a solution but I cannot think of one; Here is a You Tube video of me working on your plan in Chief Premier X8, Home Designer Pro 2017 has the same functionality in these cases as does X8 https://youtu.be/Hu-Wgop7QlE DJP PS: I just thought of this, Architectural does have "sloped soffits" which can be used to fill in your gaps over the gable's ceilings!

You might want to search the Knowledge base of help articles for more data, I found this article about .stl files, there are others: https://hometalk.chi...fix-the-models/ DJP

Images are by default 2D and will not show properly with a 3D model, Eric pointed you in the right direction. DJP

"Wrong" is not the right word, perhaps "failed to control" might be more apt. did you preset stem walls in "Edit - Default Settings - Foundation" before building your foundation? Did you try changing settings in Room Specification Dialog on the Foundation after the foundation was built? You know you can manually adjust stem wall heights using an elevation camera per stem wall. DJP

You can also use "Custom Ceiling planes" instead of roof planes as in the KB article, it is not that hard but can be done just using HD Pro. DJP

Home Designer Pro has the ability to draw stair railings manually (Check " Follow Stairs" on the Rail Style Tab), Architectural does NOT have this ability. Using it you can have any rail style or panels in your LIbrary Browser. DJP

Post a picture of these extra tall wall cabinets, some accurate dimensions and I can then tell you how to emulate it. DJP

Please post a copy of your plan file. DJP

The Home Designer title with the largest paper output is Home Designer Pro @ 18" x 24" paper. You can also export views as individual .dxf file exports or print to PDF and e mail your layout pages as PDF files. DJP

There is a dimension tool that creates its own dimension points, that is the only one you can use for your exact purpose, look for it. DJP