rfcomm2k

Two questions related to the attached sketch. First, how do I model the dormer as seen? The red dotted lines represent the interior walls. So far I tried by drawing first floor, then added second floor with 0" walls, then drew the interior second floor walls and changed the room heights to 97 1/8. Then changed the end wall of the dormer to a full gable wall. I ended up with a fairly normal looking dormer roof, but the 0" high wall was seen across the entire roof of the first floor. I grabbed the edit points on this 0" wall and dropped it to below the first floor roof, but I am not sure this is the correct way to do it. And is there a proper way to make the roof planes stretch across like they do, or is this another "grab the edit point and drag" answer? Second question, how do I model that window? I have tried changing the window shape, but then lose the dividers.

OK Jo_Ann, I will try that. I always make my drawings with North at the top, so my attached drawing has the north as the back wall. With that in mind then I will assume your reference to the west wall of the large north roof plane is the one on the left side of the drawing. But, do I delete the existing attempt at a shed dormer first?

So, I start with first floor box. Then add second floor with short ceiling? Then draw in the "dormer room" and raise that to proper ceiling height? OK, I tried this. Made first floor with full gable ends, then second floor but did not derive it from first floor. I then manually drew in the rear wall and a partial middle wall. The rest of the middle wall I drew as a railing, since it overlooks the great room on the first floor. I then completed the room (I thought) by drawing in the front wall as an exterior wall. I went to build the roof so I could add the floating dormers but I could not get the roof to draw. Obviously either I missed something or else I am doing this all wrong. Essentially what I want is almost exactly what I attached in my original post, except that the right side wall of the shed dormer (as viewed from the rear of the house) should be aligned with the right side wall of the lower floor, just as you represented in your second reply. EXCEPT, in your drawing you eliminated the first floor eave under the shed dormer, and I still want that eave to be there. As stated, exactly like my attached drawing except for the side wall alignment.

Almost Eric, except the "front" wall also aligns with the front wall of the floor below. Other than that this is exactly what I need. How did you do this?

I looked at the help for manually drawn dormers, but this is a shed dormer and the "knee wall" is the outside wall located right on top of the first floor outside wall. So how is that done?

Trying to add a shed dormer with one side wall aligned vertically with the side wall of the house. Keep getting this error: "Cannot build walls for this dormer here because existing walls are in the way. It needs to be moved to another position." alaska home.plan

The entire house rests on a footing that is 12x18, on top of which is a 48x8 foundation wall that is about 11" above grade. On top of that is a sill plate and 2x12 floor joists and the sub floor. Now, under the central part of house, extending 24' from the front foundation wall toward the back and 20' wide is a deeper foundation wall to form the basement. Of course, part of the main house front foundation wall will have to be deeper as well. This foundation wall for basement will be about 96" deep.

I understand the relationship now between stem walls and foundations and how stem walls are used for basement walls. I hope. But how do I set the default settings for a structure where the perimeter is a normal height foundation, but inside that perimeter there is a partial basement under a few rooms of the first floor. First floor elevation is 24" above grade.

Tried restarting everything, including the PC. New plan, first thing done was to edit the defaults to set the rafter size to 5 1/2 instead of 9 1/4 and ridge to 9 1/2 instead of 11 1/4. Then clicked OK Next was I built 4 exterior walls. Then I clicked Build/Roof, checked auto rebuild roofs, changed raise/lower from ceiling to 12", left the eave overhang at 18" for now.. checked the box for build roof planes and clicked OK Then I clicked Build/Framing/Roof Truss and drew in the first truss. I then did a wall elevation. The truss top chord extends below the bottom chord by 2". So I changed the Raise/lower from ceiling height to 14" and rebuilt the roof. I deleted the old truss and added a new one. IT WORKED! So to test a theory, I changed the eave to 24" but left the raise/lower setting at 14". This time the top chord extends below bottom chord by 4". So I changed the raise/lower setting from 14" to 18" and it worked again. So now I have an understanding about the relationship between the raise/lower setting and the eaves. Thanks Eric for making me think about this and for your advice!

Well, I just cannot get my trusses to look like yours do Eric. I have attached the plan now, and if you look at an elevation of the north wall you will see I placed 1 truss. You may need to turn off roof planes in order to see it properly. barn 1 framed walls.plan

I was not building or showing roof framing because I was using trusses instead. I purposely skipped the roof framing because I did not want to add additional material to the material list that was not required. But then, I never got around to checking how much material was being added. For all I know, maybe the TRUSS material is not even calculated. Will check that later. Apparently I HAVE to build roof framing in order to build trusses properly. I am almost there with the design, but the top chord of the truss still extends past the bottom of the bottom chord, but now only about 2.5"

OK, I see the box you are circling here. I set mine to 12", made sure the check boxes are as you have them, and clicked OK. I then clicked Build Framing Roof Truss, and added my first truss. It still turned out just like the one in the foreground of your pict.

OK, I am looking at the first panel in the build roof dialog, and there is no place to specify roof height. And there is no tab called rafter tails either.

Eric, I do not have Rafter Tails option in HDP 2014

Thanks Eric. The one in the background is what I am striving for, but the one in the foreground is what I have

I manually built the trusses and have a problem with the top chords. The bottom of the bottom chord members rest on top of the double top plate for the walls. The top chord should end at the same place, but instead it is extending past the bottom chord. The bottom tip of the top chord member is exactly 14 1/2" below the top of the wall plates, but it should be flush with it. Also, the bottom chords do not extend beyond the walls, which is probably where the problem is but I cannot see how to adjust them. I tried unchecking "Trim To Soffis" but that did not help. To describe it in another way, picture the ceiling rafters extending past the walls by the distance specified for the eave overhang (in this case 24"). Then the roof rafters END at the end of these ceiling joists in a plumb cut to which the fascia is attached. I cannot upload a plan right now because this PC is NOT the same PC I am using for the software at this time.

I am trying to add a shed roof dormer to a tiny house my daughter wants me to build for her. Basically, she wants the attic to have a "dormer" on both sides at one end, in the loft area. Shed roof for the dormers will extend from the peak all the way to the wall, and have a 12" overhang. I have followed the tutorial for auto dormer, and keep getting error "Dormer roof does not meet base roof, probably near the top". And when I look at an ortho pict of the house I do not see the dormer at all, even though on the floor plan it shows up as a gray rectangle. I cannot send a sample plan right now because the PC that has the floorplan on it does not have an internet connection at this time.

Does anyone know where I could download free emergency light, exit sign, sprinkler heads, etc as required for commercial buildings? I tried cgtrader and archive3d.

I had to replace my PC and subsequently had to reinstall my software. The old PC still functions, it just was dated and needed to be replaced before it failed. I had an extensive master material list, to which I had added many items. I wish to copy it from the old PC to the new, but have no idea where it is or even the name of the file.

I thought that casing default indicated how many cases of beer it would take to build this. My bad.

Looking at the online catalogs, I see several versions listed when I click the download link (X4, X5, X6, X7, X8). Which one do I use with HD Pro 2014?

Use a CAD line from the nose of the bottom step to the nose of the top step. Drag the cad line up to the height you want the lights to be, and then place the lights using the CAD line as a guide. Then delete the CAD line

Thank you DJP, I tried that and it cropped the view just as I needed it.

Duh. That is what I was going to do in the PDF editor, but this is a better idea. Thanx again.

Ur funny Eric. I had "Suppress Interior Casing" checked on the door DBX. That cured the molding problem, but I still see no casing around the door.