Kbird1

Use the Broken Arch available in the DBX Eric Shows and set the height to 4-6 , you may have to change the door type as well as some will only do a flat top ( you will see the arched casing but the door may stay square )

The knowledge base is your friend with a lot of these type issues , however if you do a lot of Renos/additions as I do HD Pro's manual Roof tools make it a lot easier. http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/database.html and in particular http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00871/52/Home-Designer/Roofs/Changing-the-Pitch-of-a-Single-Roof-Plane.html

if you designate an area "attic" the program ignores ALL height commands for that area of Roof and builds it off the 1st floor walls instead AND as an Attic you can not add Rooms etc ,so you probably need to look at the tutorial for a Storey and a Half house (Cap Cod) though you seem to already have a second floor though there are some strange room heights ,might be better to delete the 2nd floor and start again , build a second storey per the Tutorial at desired height ,turn off auto roofs , then do the rooms and alter ceiling heights as needed. is the porch roof supposed to run right up to the Gable peak on the left or is it supposed to be a separate roof? http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00358/52/Home-Designer/Roofs/Automatically-Building-a-One-and-a-Half-Story-Roof.html

glad someone agrees with me Jo with a complicated roof like this posting the plan and more photos of the real house would help too

looks like you haven't turned off the railing on that edge of the landing where you have the doggy gate I assume you don't really want glass stringers too ? my guess >>> Turn off all autogenerated railings in the staircase DBX then add them manually with a Railing wall and spec as needed. these may help even though for Chief ( so not all options maybe available): http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00082/160/Chief-Architect/Stairs/Creating-Stairs-with-Glass-or-Cable-Railings.html http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01029/160/Chief-Architect/Stairs/Creating-a-Manual-Stair-Rail.html perhaps post the plan if needed so we can have a play. Mick.

hitting the delete key with nothing selected should also get rid of the temporary points.

Try these basic roof types for the gable area http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00359/52/Home-Designer/Roofs/Automatically-Building-the-Basic-Roof-Styles.html saltbox roof http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00735/52/Home-Designer/Roofs/Creating-a-Saltbox-Roof.html

Eric has a good point , this is actually what HD calls a Saltbox roof (gable with two pitches) so this KB article may help too as they are do-able in Suite http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00735/52/Home-Designer/Roofs/Creating-a-Saltbox-Roof.html

HI S. a 2/12 pitch is pretty low , too low for Shingles ,so you'll need to use Roll Roofing in the same colour their you are going to run into a few issues without the Manual roof tools of Pro ( maybe Arch.HD too?) but there are a number of work arounds ( and some excellent out of the box thinkers here)and it looks like you are doing pretty well so far usually you would set the garage second storey ceiling to 6' (72") and then auto build the roof , then turn off the Autobuild Roofs and reset the ceiling height on the second floor to the normal 96" (84" in this case) ,try it on your separate plan 1st so you know how it works ,this process may mess up the house roof though as in Suite you need to turn auto roofs back on to get the garage to build, so all your settings there need to be spot on too and perhaps that roof complete with you new large dormer as it maybe not that simple to just drop on after. not sure if you have seen these http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00904/ http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00367/0/Drawing-a-Shed-Dormer-Manually.html http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00358/ might help to post your .Plan file too so anyone who can help can look at your settings etc and offer better help. Mick

generally it means you have a "lost" object a long way from the house ,way out past the Terrain (if you have it modelled) , try using the fill window button and look out along the edges of the view, it could be something small and / or as simple as a CAD line ,if you can't find it post the plan and i'll take a look tomorrow. its a good idea to add your HD software title and version (year) to your signature as some answers depend on the version and what "tools" you have. M.

Typically you use interior walls and in the Wall's DBX (dialog box) you set the wall(s) to be a knee wall so it is cut off by the roof where needed. if your situation is different post some pics as Solver suggested ( search how to post pics if needed, I posted on that before) M.

saw this tip today on Chieftalk today Q. "I went to Defaults>Room>Deck default settings and unclicked "deck support beams", "deck support posts", and "deck footings" , but they are still generating on the plan when I build the decks. A. Default Settings...Rooms...Deck Room...Deck Room Defaults dbx...Deck panel...uncheck Automatically regenerate deck framing assuming your title can do this ?

a bit more playing and the OSB issue is fixed/fixable if that solid half rail is made into a full wall, switch it back to a 1/2 wall /railing and the OSB issue comes back , so yes I'd send the plan in and ask them to check this thread too and/or respond here too. M.

When you designate an open below room you don't need to manipulate any of the floor (ceiling) heights yourself to correct anything , the program is smart enough for that as mentioned yesterday I found your dining rm was 103" tall while the rest of the main floor was 109" ,the Open below Room above also had been altered to a different height from the "default" 97" from the rest of the 2nd floor ,switching those back to default fixed one issue and the crown on the other walls but not the other issue where that piece of OSB is showing its end , but I am not sure why there are autowalls generating in this location either , I'd send the plan in and try and get some feedback from TS, as I think you are right about the solid rail causing an issue , it also stops the crown building on the 9" thick wall at the other end for some reason, if that wall is a normal 4 1/2" the crown builds as expected.

Sorry DBX is the common shortcut here on the Forums for DIALOG BOX ie what pops up when you OPEN an item/object edit thought a pic might help

Yep not a good story,though I am not surprised an AD has that attitude , I'd be following up with one of my State Offices if I was you , that situation ,in particular in a Fire could be deadly. As the others have said always happy to help with a plan/problems if I can , so start a new thread with your issues etc so we can all have a look at it. Mick.

Wow Robyn , an Architect who thinks about how to get water off a house just kidding this is a problem I run into and see all the time , nothing like having the front of your beautiful new house festooned with ugly downpipes. another issue is with them run right next to bedroom windows and the noise being an issue..dripping etc.

the crown is fixed by making the Dining rm the default height (109 1/8 instead of 103") but you can do it manually too except at that 9" wall at the stairwell and above the solid rail but I didn't play much , when you make that wall 9" wide it loses the drywall in plan view and the crown doesn't generate.

The only online plans are the Samples on Chief's site , but you could take one of them and modify it as needed there are a few articles in the KB on doing various things like modifying cabinets and adding Ramps , there is also a library item for accessibility but I have not used it. you don't say what version of Pro you have but one of these sample plans might help ( I think X6=2015,X5=2014.X4=2012 etc) http://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/samples.html library download http://3dlibrary.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?r=site/detail/790 KB articles http://www.chiefarchitect.com/search/?q=accessibility&default_tab=support&site=chief_architect&client=chief_architect&restrict=ChiefArchitect&proxystylesheet=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chiefarchitect.com%2Fsearch%2Fchiefsearch_stylesheet.xslt&output=xml_no_dtd&submit.x=10&submit.y=13 Mick. edit you posted above as I post this , a 42" door isn't standard off the shelf ( so expensive) while a 36" is , but I can see your issues for sure , there is an article to do barrier free showers in the KB though.

it is the end of a weird piece of OSB , I used the delete surface tool to look in at it but here is another view too ( looking down into the wall), might be cos of the dining room being a different height at one point or something you did to get that front door area to have the flat top which seems about the same height.? btw making the roof return FULL on he sec. floor gable make it work better , you can then shape the smaller roof plane to match it. M.

Your dining room ceiling height is 6" different from the rest , making it default height fixes some of the crown issues etc , the miss aligned walls are due to the automatic wall Pro is building to make up the height difference it looks like after I deleted some of your existing walls I found autowalls too. still looking . did not notice you uploaded a new plan or that Eric is "playing" too that's good I don't have Pro15 so can't fix issues for you , just look....

The roof return options are in the Roof tab of the WALL DBX , however I think now that issue is actually a floor too high ( for what we see inside) after another quick look, for some reason the auto return isn't joining the main roof on the bumpout properly but being an auto return we can't select it I don't think to resize manually ,just change the length in the DBX They may not have fixed the open below room crown issue yet , we reported it a while back but the latest updates are here: http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/updates.html

there is (was?) a bug with crown moulding in open below rooms are you fully updated? ( turn your view and look at the other side, the crown is down 6-8 inches) change the railing to match the other side (balusters) and see if that fixes it temporarily , I'm wondering if this is another bug

There is a KB Article on how they suggest doing demolition/addition walls here http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-01170/ Once I have my existing house drawn and saved as XXX_Existing, I usually resave it as XXX_Proposed ( and as _Final ,once the Client Okay's everything) and use cross hatching and a new wall definition with the fill made RED and a different HATCH from Demo walls for printing in black and white. Not sure there is a way to show only the framing on the New addition but you could resave the final plan I guess as _ADD_Framing and delete everything you don't want to see , though i'd assume you need to see how it is tied into the Existing structure etc ,though I have not tried this, never had the need. If you are talking about 3D views you could try the surface removal tool and take off the siding ,sheathing /paper etc as needed after you have built the framing.

hi Rob I think you have 2-3 issues actually the lower problem appears to be an issue with your roof returns ....too long , sec pic and the upper one is being caused I think by the solid rail on the upper floor not building/connecting properly at each end so perhaps try rebuilding it