Jo_Ann

Extend your porch wall over the walk-out. Make the wall invisible. Open that room and designate it 'open below'. Make sure that 'roof and ceiling over this room' are checked. That should give you the continuous roof. My 2d floor pic is for level 1. The terrain is drawn on level1, and the terrain retaining walls are drawn on level 0. Look on the toobar under 'TERRAIN' for 'elevation data' > 'elevation lines' and 'elevation region' (it is the 'flat' region tool, that I think you are looking for). You should draw a terrain hole (toolbar>terrain>terrain features>terrain hole) on level 1 over the walk-out area. The south basement wall (level 0, walk-out area) should be made invisible. Terrains are finicky. Keep adjusting until you get the right results.

This most likely means that the skp file that you downloaded, was done in a newer version of sketchup (that HD won't open). So, you have to download and install the free version of the sketch-up program. Then, open the symbol in sketch-up, and do a 'save as' sketch-up 8 for the symbol (in the drop-down menu). If the symbol still won't open for you, do a 'save as' sketch-up 7. Installing the sketch-up program isn't a total waste, because you will need to use it frequently to do a 'save as' for most symbols.

Garage 1 or garage 2?

2nd floor: Use 3 deck railing walls, post to ceiling style. Designate the room a deck>choose 'ceiling over this room'. Front wall roof tab is set as gable.

You have not correctly set the roof tab on the walls that need to be set as 'gable'. Then you will get the correct result.

My HDA10 'TEMPLATES' folder has several sample plans that contain gazebos (backyard retreat, blue cottage, gazebo, and octagonal deck). Maybe HD9 has them, too? Also look in your 'SAMPLES' folder.

David, You have walls in outer space!! Go to 0 level in the 2d view. Zoom waaay out and you will see 3 renegade walls. One at about 10:00 and 2 more at about 4:00. Delete them! THEN...zoom way way out, and at about the 4:00 position you will see 1 more crazy wall. Delete that too!! NOW try a 3d perspective full overview. All should be good again. But....YIKES! You have issues! Why is level 0 only 33.5" tall? And the guest bathroom has no floor.. it is open to the abyss! You've got some fixin' to do!

The wall to the right of the door, and the 2 short walls on each side of the window bump-out, need to be set as gable walls. To extend the roof next to each side of the bump-out, use the gable/roof line tool (look in the toolbar roof icon). Check your reference manual or the knowledge base for info about the gable/roof line tool.

Right side toolbar: Highlight the little square icon above the 'print preview' icon. It should say 'drawing sheet'. If it has a checkmark on it, then you clicked it.

You're welcome!

I figured out it was the gable overhang size causing the problem when opening HDA10 plan in a newer program version. I hope this plan looks correct, when opened. It would have helped to know the roof pitch, and the exterior wall height on the 2nd floor of the living module. Also, the metric conversion of dimensions was confusing for me. To the right of the skylight (pic 2) a portion of the fascia is missing. Not all things are possible, I guess. Maybe something can be found in the library to fill it in, because I don't think sloped soffits have been added to Suite. off-set roof.zip

This is what I was able to model with HDA10. However, when I opened the file in HDA2015 trial, it refused to cut off the attic walls at the roof. That is why I did not upload the plan (still trying to figure it out).

Like I said, lots of glitches. But I think this plan is more user friendly for you to apply to your own plan (to play with). If your remodel involves the roof, then you have to leave 'auto roof on', otherwise, I think it's safe to turn 'auto roof' off. I hope this works for you, so that you can easily convey your ideas to the architect. A 3d pic is worth a thousand words! gambrel roof with dormers2.zip

Update. After looking at your pics, I re-worked the plan with a new strategy (2nd floor ceilings are now raised and auto roof is still 'on'), and this is how it turned out. Lots of small glitches, (but nothing that can't be hidden with a few soffits or shapes) but I guess it has to be expected when using the limited tools that Suite & Architectural offer. If you still want the plan to look at, let me know and I will upload it.

Holy Moley! You grabbed the camera and took pics (looks like it was raining, too) !!!

Ha ha ha! You guys are funny! In image6 that you posted, it appears that you are trying to use your exterior walls as 'knee walls'. Knee walls are interior walls, drawn within the room. Put the exterior walls back where they belong. The new pic of the real room is confusing. It looks as though there are 2 dormers on each side of the roof? In the real full house pic, I see only 1 dormer on each side of the roof. ?????

Kbird: "Not sure why you have a wall missing between the 1st and 2nd dormers? though you may have mistaken the Soffit for an invisible wall in plan view? I'm guessing the soffit was to make the roof edge look more like the photo?" Adding a wall there messed things up, and I have no idea why. Yes, the soffit was added to show stpete111 how to fake the roof break on that upper level (shown on the real pic). When auto roof is turned off and the ceilings get raised, that clears up a lot of the wall mess on the 2nd floor. Whatever remains, can be tweaked. stpete111: Home Designer does already offer a discount on upgrades. Look on the website. There is a link on the forum page.

Post a jpeg of your 1st floor 2d floor plan.

stpete111, Don't judge a wall by it's color. If you click on the wall to view it's properties, you will see that it is a thinner exterior wall. A thinner wall was the only way that would allow me to extend the front walls of each dormer, out further (to lengthen them). The dormers have to be done manually. I don't know what is going on with your attic walls.

stpete111, 1. If you have to change ceiling heights back and forth for an entire floor, you will know why it was not beneficial to yourself to have many rooms to change (on each floor). You'll see... 2. HDA has many more tools and more versatility than Suite. If you plan to dabble in the software for more than just one project, I think it is well worth the upgrade. Play with the trial download, and you'll see for yourself. P.S. Although you can't save anything in the trial....you can open both my plan, and your own plan at the same time (within the trial version) and tile them vertically. It makes it convenient to change your settings and see how it affects your model, without having to open and close 2 plans in different programs. Experiment...you can't damage your original plan.

Mick, I wish I could have opened the plan you uploaded, but I can't. What version program did you use? If I had been able to open the plan, I could have done a better re-creation of stpete111's house plan. stpete111, This version of the plan was done in HDA10, so to open it you will have to download the free trial version of HDA2016 (HDA is the MOST similiar to Suite...Pro has too many choices and that would be confusing). You will then be able to see the settings that I used, and apply that to your own plan. I had to raise the 1st floor ceiling (of the main house) to 9', to make the front roof eave (height) look correct. Overhang settings are also critical. After your roof is entirely correct, you can turn off 'auto build roof' and re-lower the 1st floor ceiling to 8'. On the 2nd floor, you would then check 'ceiling over this room' and raise the ceiling to 8'. You can then begin tweaking the walls upstairs, too. If you have already added interior walls to the entire house, then you have somewhat sabotaged yourself. You can never ever never rebuild the roof again after you have changed these settings! gambrel roof with dormers.zip

That's not going to work, Mick. He has to manually build dormers on the 2nd floor.

Look in the 'templates' folder within the Home Designer 2016 application folder. I counted 61 various editable samples in there.

For HD Architectural, this is similiar to Kbird's post. Use the 2nd floor blank option to draw these walls. You will probably have to play with all the settings, including the wall placement, to make it behave in your own plan. At least, it should help to get you started in the right direction. Attached Thumbnails

Thanks, Mick.