rfcomm2k

Yes Jo_Ann, that is exactly it. The terrain is flat, and will be referenced as 0". The stem wall is 60" high. Top of stem is 12", So there is 48" of stem below grade, resting on top of a 12" high x 16" wide footer. The location is Willow Alaska, which is why the foundation needs to go so deep. The garage floor rests 4" above grade, leaving an 8" curb. The top of the house slab rests even with the top of the stem wall, thus there is a step up from the garage to the rest of the building.

The ledge to support the slab is (IMO) needed because the slab rests on top of 2" of foam insulation, under which is a base of compacted gravel. The slab will have numerous zones of radiant heat.

Sorry Mick, I tend to look at something and assume everyone sees what I am seeing, even if they are not in the same room I am in! The specifics (for the moment) are a 3 bay garage on left end of structure with 16' ceilings (for RV and for servicing plow trucks). The rest of building, also resting on a slab, is a house. It is my understanding that there must be a curb wall between house and garage (in this case curb wall wraps all the way around, with openings cut for the garage doors). The house slab will rest even with the top of curb wall or will rest ON TOP of curb wall. But there are no floors or rooms beneath the house slab.

Thank you for reply DJP. I did not know the terrain spec had info regarding the foundation. Question now. The building is built on a slab on grade, no basement or crawl space. The garage will have a curb wall on 3 sides that is to be 8" above the top of the slab. But the rooms adjoining the garage will have the slab at the same height as the top of this curb wall. I thought I saw a spec somewhere about the curb wall (where else would I have come up with the term curb wall), but I cannot find it now.

Here is a picture of the foundation I need for this building. 16x12 footing 48" below grade. 4" slab on grade. Stem wall 8" wide at the top and 12" above grade (excluding sill plate). And an extension of the stem wall to support the slab. How do I achieve this in HD Pro 14? And why does the program insist on having a foundation room underneath a slab on top of stem wall?

I set parameters in the room DBX for absolute elevations, stem wall height, floor height, etc. I specified mono slab, floor supplied by foundation room below, absolute stem wall top © 8", stem wall top (I) 8". This set the floor height (D) to 4" as I expected. When everything looked as I wanted it I clicked OK to close the DBX. I moved on to another section of building to set the same parameters, but forgot to write down some info from first room. When I re-opened the first room I discovered that the changes I had made were not preserved. I found the check box floor under this room had been checked, floor supplied by foundation un checked. Stem wall height (I) had been changed to 2' 2 1/8". I checked the default settings for foundations and saw these were set to walls with footings, so I changed it to mono slab, Now the room DBX remains as I set it. I thought that the "default settings" were a starting point for a drawing, but that through the use of various DBX settings you can override the defaults. So why do the default settings override me? Is this a program fault?

I tried to delete my original post after solving problem myself but cannot.

OK, I think I have it solved as far as roof oddity goes, by deleting the offending roof planes. Now, how does one go about adding stairs between the levels? On the first floor, the far right room is 4' above grade. To connect to it from the family room level I need stairs going up 4'. If the stairs are going to start at the dividing wall, not in the middle of the family room, I will need some kind of structure beneath it in the 4' of dead space beneath the far right room. Should that be interior wall, exterior wall, foundation wall, or what? Do I place the stairs first then build the wall, or build wall first then place stairs?

OK Mick. What I should have said is Absolute Elevation. If I change the ceiling (B in room def) to 192" the oddity occurs. Yes, the ridge visibly is seen all at the same height. But directly below it on the two outer rooms there is another set of roof planes. Also, the left room (garage) is on a slab, so why does it have a stem wall showing? I tried breaking the Floor 1 walls where they join the two inner walls, but still have the problem. So then, after I made the changes I manually deleted the roof planes that did not belong there. Now the building APPEARS as it should, but I am not sure what other problems I will encounter next.

In the attached file I started by drawing a rectangular building. I then put in 2 walls to divide building into approx. thirds. Then went to each room definition and set the absolute ceiling height to 192". For the far right room def I changed the floor height to 48" so that it starts at 48" above grade and has a 12' ceiling. I have tried to add a second floor but ONLY in the middle of the structure. The absolute ceiling height of the second floor should be 192". In other words, the ridgeline for entire structure should be the same height. Now, if I look at the room def for the garage and try to reset the ceiling height to 192", it collapses the garage down to where the roof rises straight off the footing, and turns into a hip roof, despite the fact I already set the end walls AND MIDDLE walls as full gable walls. I cannot see what I did wrong. I checked the room definitions and do not see any problems.

Eric, in the original drawing the house did have two floors. Now they are asking for a single floor in the house, but with the possibility of finishing the "attic" space into additional bedrooms with dormer windows. The driving force behind all this is that he needs to get the workshop and main house finished ASAP before the Alaskan winter sets in. Snow flies where he lives as early as mid September.

I guess I am just not getting this. I can visualize in my head how I want it to look, and if I were drawing it stick by stick I could easily do it. But the little nuances that HDPro has is confounding me. First floor has house and garage all one level. Crawl space under house, slab under garage. House has 8' ceiling, garage has 12' ceiling. Above the garage, in the attic space, there is a small room, maybe 20' wide and the entire depth of garage. Room ceiling is the underside of the roof, with side walls 8' high, which will put the peak of roof somewhere around 28'. This peak carries all the way across garage and house. Garage and house roofs have gables on east and west ends. Due to the high peak, potentially the attic space above the house could also be used for bedrooms at some future date. So, why am I having so much trouble with this?

It is to be a replacement for my Son's house and pole barn, both of which burned to ashes in a forest fire 2 weeks ago in Willow, AK. The garage is to be a workshop for his collection of trucks and snow machines. I wanted to put the office space upstairs. You said you drew in the 5 walls clockwise on the second floor, but I am not sure what 5 walls you mean. And the second pict is the one that is desired. He does not want snow sliding off the roof and blocking the garage doors.

Existing 2 story house. Adding a 6 bay garage to it with roof planes to match existing. This creates an attic space above garage that is big enough for a room (or two). I selected the garage room and made sure it had Roof over room and ceiling over room checked. I specified 9 1/2" ceiling structure. When I changed the view to the second floor I saw the gable wall at the end of the garage, and of course the wall structure for the second floor of the house. Then I built walls to enclose the garage attic space (offset from the edges so that walls will not be protruding thru the roof). After doing this, I tried to select the attic room to specify flooring, etc. But I could not select it. So, visually the room exists, but as far as the program is concerned it does not.

Good advice DJP, but how about this one: Existing 2 story house. Adding a 6 bay garage to it with roof planes to match existing. This creates an attic space above garage that is big enough for a room (or two). I selected the garage room and made sure it had Roof over room and ceiling over room checked. I specified 9 1/2" ceiling structure. When I changed the view to the second floor I saw the gable wall at the end of the garage, and of course the wall structure for the second floor of the house. Then I built walls to enclose the garage attic space (offset from the edges so that walls will not be protruding thru the roof). After doing this, I tried to select the attic room to specify flooring, etc. But I could not select it. So, visually the room exists, but as far as the program is concerned it does not.

Thanx Mick!

Can the coordinates shown on the status line be changed to show feet,inches instead of inches?

Well done David. How did that point get there to begin with (i.e. what did I do wrong?)

I am using HDPro 2014 CAD features to design a chess board. When I added some horizontal lines in one view I noticed a X marking one of the elements. Now I cannot get rid of the X. Does anyone know where this x came from and how to get rid of it?

You nailed it Elovia. In the room DBX on the floor structure screen the top layer was specified at 1/4". However, the floor finish (K) was set to 0. THANK YOU!

In the attached plan I have tried to change the flooring in the bathroom to ceramic tile. In the room DBX it is specified to be tile, but in the camera perspective view it still shows a wood floor. I checked default settings and see nothing there that calls to me. What is causing this?

Great catch David, thanx!

Here is the plan

In the attached picture there are two views of the toekick area of some cabinets. If the cabinet is allowed to snap itself to the adjoining wall, the baseboard trim which should continue up to the toekick is truncated at the depth of the entire cabinet. If I drag the cabinet to be short of the adjoining wall the trim continues as it should, but then the cabinet is not the correct size. Any suggestions?