NorseMN

David, Thanks much for your helpful response. I expected that it would be something simple. The "Subfloor height above terrain" is clearly the property that I had neglected. It was "checked" as automatic. I was trying to change the values of elevation lines, assuming that the height of the terrain was defaulted to the zero elevation of the house. But each time I adjusted the height of elevation lines, the terrain auto-compensated to offset my effort. It was rather frustrating. It's great to understand that I can adjust the relative heights with a single number, rather than messing around with multiple terrain settings. My software version is included in my signature. (Per instructions from "solver" in response an earlier question.)

I'm trying to add terrain to my house design. The house is on a slope. I want the ground surface to be 4 feet up the wall of the first floor (no basement) on the uphill side. But it seems that no matter what values I enter for elevation lines, the footing of the uphill wall of my house remains even with the terrain surface. What setting am I missing?

Rookie65, Thanks for the tip. I found the proper setting and the posts are now correctly under the beam. solver and Rookie65, I thought for a moment that i might be able to just make the deck a foot wider, then turn off the auto-generation and restore the original size. But unfortunately, as soon as I found the setting, I realized that it applied to all the framing, so that wouldn't work. So I manually re-positioned each post and footing. Ideally, this should only be done after one is certain to make no further changes. (Not sure if that time ever comes! More accurately, I think it has arrived way too many times.)

The supports generated for decks always have the supports set back about a foot from the edge of the deck. I'd like the support beam and posts to be flush with the edge of the deck. This also works better when the railing above supports a roof. I thought that I had once found a setting for this, but I can't find it anywhere now. I see that the end posts are generated centered under the ends of the beam. I'd like the outer surface of the end posts to be flush with the end of the beam, and both to be flush with the end of the deck. Is there a way to accomplish both of these things?

Thanks for your helpful response. I changed the thickness of the floor finish to 3/4' and reduced the layer 1 item of the floor to zero. AS you demonstrated, and all was then OK. I understand that it made no sense to set the ceiling thickness values to zero, when I'm using the soffit surface for the ceiling. But it's something I tried in desperation when I couldn't understand the floor issue. You're correct that I can't add or delete layers from floor definitions. Or at least, I can't find a way. (I'm pretty sure that I have done that before, but perhaps it's only for certain items.) The reason I had the floor defined the way it was, is to match common construction practices here on the island. No underlayment layer is used here. Pine planks are placed directly on the joists. When I initially saw that I couldn't delete layer 1, I decided to simply add the planks to the floor definition, replacing the OSB. After all, it is actually a structural component of the floor, just as the underlayment layer would be. Then I set the floor finish thickness to zero, because I also couldn't delete that layer. Those settings are working fine in every other wood floor in the house. So I remain a bit puzzled why this failed for this one floor. Nevertheless, I will change them all. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of selecting a template (other than default) when I started and have regretted it ever since. It seems that that style now provides my defaults, and editing the default values has no effect. My odd "cupola" design has created a few issues. But it solves several design goals. I still have issues with getting the walls of the "cupola" to be interior type below the roof and siding type above it. I'm pretty sure I have this working in other locations. But not there. Thanks again for your help. I find that quite often, the most irritating and difficult issues turn out to have the simplest solutions. Reid

Thanks for looking into this. I'm finding that, in general, things are working much better in the 2033 version than in my old 2011 version. There are still some quirks, and most often I find some wall position error or wrong setting. But I'm really scratching my head on this one. The issue is in the tiny roof access structure on the 4th floor. A very steep stair on the third floor leads to this structure. One oddity is that the structure is between two roof planes. One is created on the second floor and the other on the third floor. If I might also ask one other trivial question... In 3D views the underside of the bottom floor, the joists are hidden. Of course, I can see them in a framing view, but they will be open in the actual house, so is there a way to make them visible in 3D views? House_3_24.plan

There are likely answers somewhere in the forum, but I can't find any way to word my search that doesn't result in either thousands of results, or zero results. I have a floor in a small room that is not visible in the 3D view. I can't find any wall or room configuration issues. The room structure shows the correct floor level, and as far as I can tell, everything surrounding this area looks fine. I've attached a 3D image that seems to provide a good angle on the issue. (I removed the door sill to improve visibility,)

I guess I failed to click on "Mark as Solution", which I've now done on my own previous reply. Rookiie65 Thanks for your suggestion, but I learned already that the Newels/Balusters properties are greyed out in the landing properties. It appears that they are inherited from the Stair properties. (Image attached.) Jo_Ann, The single label "Newels/Balusters" provides access to the combined properties of both components. Sorry if I was unclear. Thanks to both of you. I think we can move on now. Reid Isberg (aka NorseMN)

Eric, I think I have things somewhat sorted out. Yes, I did start by choosing a template other than the Default Style. That's presumably how I got the fancy rail posts. I did finally find a Baluster Type parameter, which can be set to Square, round or library. But setting it to square made no difference in the 3D view. I also had the issue that I was looking at a railing that was generated as part of a landing, so it's properties are controlled by the stair settings. So most of its properties are greyed out. And, I found a Baluster Type parameter in the stair properties, but changing it to square also made no difference. It appears to me that template properties override at least some local settings. I had already found from my old 2011 software, that the template also overrides default settings. I had many instances of an item that I wanted to change, and I had to edit each material, one, by one, for each of them, because changing defaults didn't help. And yes, where possible, I selected use defaults, for each item. For future reference, if there's an easier way, I'd love to know it. I guess my railing issues are resolved. Thank you for your suggestions I'd still like a resolution of the "3D cursor" issue. If I select the "pointer cursor" in a 3D view, I can find no way to get the "3D cursor" back, other than to close the view and reopen it. There must be a toolbar icon to select the "3D cursor", but I can't see it, or don't recognize it.

Maybe it's a PC issue when the cursor disappears. Not confident of that. Just now, I tabbed to a 3D view and saw that the pointer tool was selected, rather than the 3D control. As I mentioned, I can't find any toolbar icon that lets me select the 3D cursor. In my older version, when in a 3D view, there was an icon on the toolbar to select the 3D cursor. (Image attached,)

I already downloaded the Core Catalogue. I don't see anything of interest to me on the web site Bonus Catalogs. This looks to me like just more fancy millwork. I'd be happy with a simple, square post. I retired two years ago to a Caribbean island, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras. I'm trying to build a simple, inexpensive house. The example designs offered by web site are far to elaborate. How do I just get a simple railing style like I had in my old version? (Image attached.)

solver (aka Eric?), I did search the forum for answers before posting my question. I couldn't find anything relevant. Since I just upgraded and downloaded the software yesterday, I assumed that "Home Builder Pro 2022" was sufficient. The build is: 23.3.0.81x64, October 28, 2021. I have looked through every possible setting that I can find. I assumed it would be a property of Railing. The style of the post that's generated is quite elaborate, in my opinion. I never saw thins in my prior experience. So I expected that there must be some set of post styles somewhere. I can't find anything. Not even post dimensions. When I wrote "lose the tool", I meant that the cursor simply disappears. Moving my mouse does nothing. In my old version, there were separate toolbar icons for "pointer" and "3D control". I could always get the 3D cursor by clicking on the tool bar icon. It disappears after I tab to a different view and back.

I just upgraded from my very old Home Designer Pro 10 (2011) to a shiny new 2022 version. It appears to be a good move. But, it's generating huge, fancy railing posts, and I can't find any way to change the style. How do I fix this? Also, if I lose the tool to move and rotate the 3D image, I can't get it back. I don't see it in any tool bar (that I have open). Am I just not recognizing the icon? Thanks.

I was finally able to access the 2nd floor bedroom properties in the 3D view and found that the floor had dropped to the first floor level. Once I got that fixed, things started working better. I still had access other rooms in the 3D view to fix ceiling heights to default. When I made each change, I got warnings about negative ceiling heights and a room would be selected in 2D, but I couldn't do anything other than click away the messages. When the last error message was gone, so was the selection. I was back to being unable to select the faulty room. Fortunately, I could get at it in the 3D view. Now I'm on to new problems. Thanks much for your suggestion, I'll mark this as solved.

Fortunately, I started my day by saving under a new name. I made only s few changes, and suddenly I can't properly select rooms on the second floor. There's one large bedroom that can't be selected at all, and all other rooms are selected together plus a border outside the exterior walls of the house. Image attached. OOPS! CORRECTION: I opened my version from yesterday and found that the problem started there. That's several hours or work difference from the previous day, which id OK. I know that I have a pretty old software version (2011). My upgrade options expired long ago. Would it be worthwhile to just buy a new version?