djkiwi

Hi guys. I hope all is well and everyone had a great thanksgiving! I've been working through some budget numbers on my plan and had a couple of questions on the suite generated materials list and prices. The first picture shows a section of the plan that shows two bedrooms that will be built in an attached carport. It has a roof already but will need to build a subfloor using joists that will span right to left spanning about 14 feet. The second picture shows the materials list for this area. The problem is when I generate the materials list it's giving me odd things like 40 foot joists. I did try cut list and buy list etc. Plus I'm not sure why it says 2 x 12' whereas I'm hoping to use 2 x 10 joists. I'm not sure if defaults can be set for this. I'd like to see say 40 x 14 foot floor joists etc. I'm wondering how other people are using this materials list or there are other options I'm not seeing or whether I should bother with it for lumber. Still on suite right now but wondering if pro had any other features that may help. Thanks DJ

Hi Mick. I've tried to get rid of the "face" as suggested. Also found this great gray color from Benjamin Moore HC 166 Kendall Charcoal for the Hardie panels. Also my wife doesn't like white exterior windows so I've changed them to a darker bronze. The green door is now under review with the new changes. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the Andersen 100 series windows but they are quite modern looking and made of Fibrex (wood and vinyl combo). The warranty is only 10 years but they seem to be good value windows. See this review by Matt Risinger http://mattrisinger.com/andersen-100-series-windows-review/ Also interesting install video The other thing I'm thinking is moving away from clear cedar on the front right of the house and changing to smooth lap instead (mainly for maintenance reasons) color to be determined. Cheers DJ

Thanks guys. That soffit tool is pretty powerful and did the job. Mick you are right I put 6" overhang whereas I meant to write 12". All good now. One other thing I've noticed is imported materials seem pretty inaccurate. For example I saved a swatch of the vg fir cupboard doors from these cabinets. http://www.houzz.com/photos/2959478/View-Ridge-Residence-contemporary-kitchen-seattle Then I applied it to my doors. You can see the result on the double doors to the upper right of the fridge. As you can see it's not very accurate. Seems a common occurrence for me at least. Cheers DJ

Hi Guys, I'm wondering if there is a way to adjust overhangs. For example, the following picture shows an overhang of 6 inches. http://www.houzz.com/photos/2959478/View-Ridge-Residence-contemporary-kitchen-seattle So when I set the countertop overhang in home designer suite at 6 inches it sets 6 inches for the front and the back. I'm not seeing any setting so you can set the front to say 1" and the back to say 6". Also how do you set the side cabinet color (currently showing as fir) to the same color as the countertop color (white), same as picture? Maybe there is a workaround to these? Thanks in advance DJ

Hi Mick. I played around with the reveals a bit. By increasing the hardie board size to standard 5 x 10 and/or 4 x 8 it makes the front "less busy" plus keeps the cost of the reveals down. I'm estimating the trim will cost around $250 for the two sides as shown in the picture. I'm still not sure whether I'll do anodized reveals or primed and the same color as the siding. I'd like to do Milgard or Eagle aluminum windows but the problem is not many aluminum windows meet energy code in Washington State. The ones that do use Cardinal 366 glass or triple pane glass making the glass too dark, too expensive or both of the above. Because this house is on a corner lot it effectively has two frontages meaning curb appeal needs to be considered from both sides. Thanks again for the ideas. Cheers DJ ps. If you are building the rainscreen and there is no window trim used (modern look) and the siding butts up to the window edge do you normally just thicken the vertical runner (barrier strips used)?

Thanks Eric. I see what you mean. I played around with the angles and tilt etc and you are right. I was able to get a color that accurately resembles the swatch. Cheers DJ

Plan attached for previous post. Existing Plan 80.plan

Hi guys, I'm still having problems with colors and realized it's not the lighting after all. For example I've applied Benjamin moore iron mountain to the front (around and below the windows). The picture shows the front almost black whereas you can see the inset from the catalog as gray. Also I've attached a link to the color in BM which is also clearly gray. I'm noting most dark grays I select appear nearly black. I wondering if anyone else sees this as black as well and/or has had a similar problem. I'm thinking I've got some settings screwed up somewhere. I've attached the plan as well which shows the color as iron mountain. http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/ironmountain also here is a picture of "iron gray" http://www.houzz.com/photos/1263396/Bethesda-Mid-Century-Addition-Renovation-contemporary-exterior-dc-metro Cheers DJ

Thanks Mick. It will be my first time doing a rain screen so the ideas are appreciated. Part of the challenge with this house is it's on a corner lot so curb appeal is on two sides of the house instead of one so consistency is important. Cheers DJ

Thanks Jo_Ann. It seemed to work ok now for some reason and never duplicated it. Cheers DJ

Hi Mick. Unfortunately it wouldn't import as anything but a blank. Thanks for posting those shots. Nice work. I intend to build my rainscreen system exactly the same way. Intrigued as to the wood and dimensions of your vertical runners and the vapor barrier you used? You are right about the cost of those aluminum reveals. I also have some samples of easy trim reveals. These appear to be higher quality than Tamlyn but are also 50% more expensive. http://easytrimreveals.com/ The problem is panels by themselves can look a little cheap to me and look good broken up. I was going to put a bumpout on the front of the house to achieve this but I'm right on the setback line. Here are a few pictures. First one is anodized and second is same color. http://www.houzz.com/photos/2785264/Franklin-Street-Residence-Southwest-Corner-modern-exterior-denver http://www.houzz.com/photos/4872142/Napier-Street-Barrie-Ontario-modern-exterior-toronto I think I may just leave a gap between the panels with bug screen and let the rainscreen take care of the moisture. I'm also thinking of adding a 1/2" of foam board as a thermal break but will then need to deal with window depths. The other option is something like this where they ripped 4 x 8 hardie into 2' panels but lapped. I spoke to the architect who designed this house and she wasn't a fan of the aluminum reveals either because of expense. http://www.houzz.com/photos/3564721/Juanita-Residence-contemporary-exterior-seattle http://www.houzz.com/photos/3564725/Juanita-Residence-contemporary-exterior-seattle Cheers DJ

Hi Jo_Ann. Yes, ok so I got the material in but what I'm getting is 3073 repeating itself. I've attached a picture.

Hi Jo_Ann. Well, not quite. I got the png into user catalog. I can see the file there under the library browser. When I go to apply material there is nothing to be seen in the user catalog I will have a crack at the stairs now... Cheers DJ

Thanks Mick. Yes I'm going to rip them into 2' wide but still playing around with the look and pattern. I'm looking at either using clear anodized or painted the same color as the siding. You are right these reveals are expensive. I'm using the Tamlyn reveals which most of the contractors and architects specify around here and goes for around $20-$25 for a 10 ft piece. Kinda silly really for something that should cost $1. I did try Joe's wall panel but it was blank so did the long winded soffit part. Cheers DJ

Hi Jo_Ann, the unsupported "thing" is like a pergola. I'm still developing it. I got the idea from this place. http://www.houzz.com/photos/1069993/Cloud-Street-Residence-midcentury-exterior-san-francisco Frankly I'm not sure what's going on with the terrain. It was a fluke I was able to get it this far. I'm also trying to get those steps to go up but have had no luck so far. I'm trying to find out how to make that hill part lower so the stair case will go up but nothing I seem to to flatten it. Also I'm also trying to lower the terrain by the basement door by a few inches. Cheers DJ Existing Plan 78.plan

Thanks Jo_Ann on the green strip. So I used the soffit tool to get the reveals in the panel and then use your corner board tool to get the corner reveals. The only difference I see is the corner boards can only be set to a minimum of 3/4" whereas the soffit can be the desired 1/2". I've attached the plan and picture. Cheers DJ ps: still haven't managed to get your 3073 to "stick" to anything as yet. Existing Plan 78.plan

Hi Guys, I couldn't figure out how to do it in the end. One thing that worked was using very thin soffits and copying them. Here is a picture. Cheers DJ

Hi Mick. Yes. Fixed that now. That left side of the roof seems to have a mind of it's own. I will keep posting my updated plan so anybody else can use it for ideas as well. Hopefully by the end of the process it's a masterpiece! I did have one question. On the left side of the house front I have put a green strip by using the wall break. What I was trying to do was make the strip only go to the bottom of the window like this house below. See how the red strip stops at the window bottom. Is there an easy way to do this? http://www.houzz.com/photos/442208/A-Small-Retreat-by-the-Ocean-contemporary-exterior-seattle Cheers DJ Existing Plan 75.plan

Thanks Eric for that. I had no idea you could adjust for sun. That's incredible even sunlight is built in. That did the trick. I feel like a complete noob. On the brown siding issue I pressed "toggle textures" and it fixed it. I emailed CA yesterday asking them to increase the file limit. It's good to see they are so responsive to their customers. Cheers DJ

Hi Mick. The drop box idea seems to work well. I hope CA increases this 10 mb limit as it's way too low. I'm starting to think I have a bug somewhere as now the floors have gone a solid brown color (see picture shows the floor selected) and the brown siding that was tongue and groove is now just a solid color although the setting shows tongue and groove. Also the siding still will not match on the front and side. I've marked on the picture where both are set to pewter but the one over the garage won't change. I'm starting to think these issues are related. I was hoping if you get a minute you load this plan on your system to see if you have the same problem or have any things for me to check. If it's a bug I will report to CA and see if they can provide any guidance. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100756869/Existing%20Plan%2066.plan Cheers DJ

Thanks guys for the ideas and the dropbox idea. It appears I had a problem with naming the garage and another room which solved the downstairs siding issue. Still seeing differences between front of house and side of house with the pewter. Thanks for the doorstep note. I was wondering how to do that. Pro is on the shopping list for next month for sure. Cheers DJ

Hi Mick/guys. I started on the differing overhangs but had an earlier issue that could relate to the 12" bug. Basically the exterior walls wont change color. For example I have set the color of the garage door to Benjamin Moore pewter and then the top siding also to pewter but they stubbornly remain as ocean blue even though the setting states pewter. You can see the front of the house displays pewter ok. Also if I do an inside view of the garage and show the exterior wall it has another unrelated color. This all seem to start after the 12" bug issue. I'm trying to attach the plan but it's too big now as the system only allows 10 mb or less. It won't accept a 7-ip file either. Any ideas or things to check on this one? Thanks DJ

Hi Mick. Nice pickup. Yes, I am an "import" into the good ol USA from NZ. Metric would be nice. Still having problems with the feet and inches thing. Architect fees end up about 7-10% of the remodel budget in our area. They start off low but all said and done end up about 10%+ for a good architect. A friend of mine spent $15k on fees for a $150k remodel. I think it really depends on the number of issues with permitting and how many changes there are. Yes, you are right with the elevations. The City told me they need to see elevations so Chief pro is a must. Cheers DJ

Thanks David. You really know your stuff! Cheers DJ

I was wondering if anybody had success putting in reveals (or getting the same look) for smooth panel vertical siding? I've managed to get the smooth panel from the certainteed catalog but seems no option to do the reveals (metal piece in between the panel). Here is an an example of what they look like. (See metal strips between siding and on the corners). http://www.houzz.com/photos/1309773/Modern-Home-Remodel-midcentury-exterior-grand-rapids Thanks DJ