Jo_Ann

To lower the stucco walls to floor level, for example, I opened the room dbx for the room next to the garage. That floor (D) is set at -900mm. If Suite has this setting, 'Stem Wall Top (C)', set that at 10mm lower than -900mm (-890mm).

This is what you currently have. The rooms descend from each other, and I added the doors so that this is visible to you. The terrain slope needed to be adjusted. This exposed some of your foundation, so you need to work on that. I think you need to adjust the top of the stem wall height, as each room steps down. Is each ceiling height supposed to get higher as the rooms step down? The ceiling height is what keeps the roof at the same eave level. What happened to the high shed roof that you wanted?

Why are you using 3 1/2" fir framed walls? I think that you have sabotaged yourself from the get-go, and you should start over. Make sure that the snap settings are turned on.

If cabinet 1 is set at 0" from the floor, then maybe cabinet 2 should be set at 34" or 35" from floor (dbx box)??

To save yourself some work, FIRST open the roof dialog box and set the default pitch to "0" ( it will default to 1/4"). Set the gable walls only where shown. Whatever pitch that you set on the west wall (floor 1) is what will determine the height of the high shed gable wall. Build a new floor/ check the box for 'build new blank plan"/ set the finished ceiling to 12". Turn on the floor reference display, and draw new walls only where shown (draw over the existing attic walls). Use a room divider wall for the interior wall. Align the walls with the walls below/set the room as 'open below' (if you want the floor structure removed). Set the 2 gable walls and the high shed wall. The roof should pop up.

Is this what you are trying to do?

You are not offering a 'tip' or 'technique', you are asking a 'how to' question. Your post belongs in the Q&A section.

Olivier...take a look at what is obvious. If bldg #1 floor (c) is set at '0', and your terrain takes a steep elevation drop...should bldg #2 floor (c) still be set at '0'?

Is it really floor structure(L) you need to change, or is it floor (C) that you need to change? Floor (C) is most always set to "0" and the terrain elevation is what gets changed to raise or lower the house from the ground. If it actually really is floor structure(L), then you need to re-read what I said. For a bigger floor structure, stick with the default (12 5/8) and add only a few inches to the floor finish (K) to get what you need.

Looking at your elevation picture, you have misrepresented the entire house roof structure in the plan that you posted. That changes everything. Read up on 'story and a half' roofs in the knowledge base, and focus on getting the main house roof correct first (front gable and dormer included). You have a lot of fixing to do.

After you have deleted the 2nd floor garage walls, repair the 2nd floor house walls (at the corner) with exterior walls. Then try this: On floor 1, set the garage walls as "separate" from the house, as shown. Remember to set the front and rear garage walls as 'gable'. Add a new room, as shown. Follow the settings. When the roof is correct, turn off auto rebuild roof. You can then rejoin the garage walls to the house, and delete the extra room. For water drainage, easiest way to add a cricket (in this case), is to use an isometric wedge (library shape), as shown.

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How about a custom backsplash?

Same method. Not very practical, unless it's for a child's playhouse.

Draw a cad circle set to 125cm, and wrap the curved stairs around it.

Or you can use soffits, soffits, and more soffits (or closed boxes).

Try this.

swarren, Trial and error.

While on floor 2, turn on the reference floor display. Choose to build a new floor (floor 3)/ new blank plan. In the structure box that appears, set the finished ceiling to 8". Build 4 NEW walls over the bump out ONLY (Draw over the existing walls, because they are attic walls and will not define a room). Make sure all 4 walls are aligned with the walls below. Set both the front and back walls as gable walls.

I used a different approach. Back porch, west side railing wall needs to be set as full gable. You have the build roof dialog set to 'ignore 2nd floor'. Uncheck it. Now you need to lower the 2nd floor finished ceiling to 60", so it will blend into the porch roof (reset height after you turn off rebuild roof). The 2nd floor needs to extend out over the porch for a dormer: Draw 3 new walls for the dormer. Break the original front wall of the house at each dormer side wall. Drag the original front wall back into the house until the roof looks correct (don't forget to set the dormer front wall as gable). Open the dormer room and set the finished ceiling height to about 88", or whatever sets the height of the roof correctly.

The truss was done with regular soffits, sloped soffits, and cylinder shapes (for the bolts). It was then 'blocked'. The purlins were done using the custom backsplash. Then copy/pasted, and moved into position.

There is a basic cape cod plan in the TEMPLATES folder of HDPro 2018 (plan2249.plan). It might be helpful to you, to be able to see how they did it.

A big slow down might happen if you have recently added some sketchup symbols. Have you recently added a lot of landscaping?

For some reason, the balcony wall below that roof oddity is causing the problem. Move it 2" in either direction, and roof oddity goes away.