attic space as rooms

[rfcomm2k]

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.

 

[Kbird1]

More like 6-10 rooms  ,damn that is a big garage

 

you don't have any exteriors walls over the garage,  so you wont get a room definition and hence no roof (except off 1st flr) and you can't make walls or rooms in there.

 

Not sure what you want but I drew the 5 walls in clockwise on the 2nd floor as a test and got this

 

 

 

 

If you don't want the Roof to change , turn off auto rebuild ( it's on) before you do your walls as above....

 

I'm thinking Dance Hall now

 

[rfcomm2k]

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.

[solver]

Build 2nd floor with 0" height.

 

Build roof.

 

Build walls as needed on second floor.

 

Set "Attic" areas on second floor to Attic as required.

[Kbird1]

Hi , sorry to hear that  , hopefully Property was the only thing hurt, so it's a total rebuild?

 

That will be a massive looking Roof and it seems to me you would loss a lot of space out at each end ,you have the possibility 

of a lot more room for the family there , by making the 2nd storey over the garage Full height , and using a 1/2 pitch roof off each side  

(4/12 not 8/12 like house)   to get something like

 

just draw the 5 walls over the automatic Attic walls to eliminate them on the 2nd floor  

 

 

 

[rfcomm2k]

Build 2nd floor with 0" height.

 

Build roof.

 

Build walls as needed on second floor.

 

Set "Attic" areas on second floor to Attic as required.

 

 

But the second floor already exists above the house area as bedrooms, baths, laundry, hallway.

 

So I cannot add a second floor where one already exists.

 

 

[Kbird1]

"But the second floor already exists above the house area as bedrooms, baths, laundry, hallway.

 

So I cannot add a second floor where one already exists"

 

 

That's why I said to draw your own 5 walls in ..................... as per pic

 

you could also do something like

[solver]

Go to 2nd floor.

 

Draw outside walls above garage first floor walls. F9 to see them.

 

Set ceiling height to 0".

 

Build roof.

 

Draw in interior walls as needed.

[rfcomm2k]

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?

[solver]

The software will not let you build rooms in an attic, it must be a numbered floor. 

 

It can look like an attic, but it cannot be labeled an attic by the program.

 

I'm confused by "Due to the high peak, potentially the attic space above the house could also be used for bedrooms at some future date."

 

You said above the house has a second floor -- does it?

 

If no, then you must build one, if yes, then you need walls above the perimeter garage walls to create a room. The walls are only there to create the room because that is the way the software works. 

 

Once you create this second floor room above the garage, set the ceiling height to 0 and build the roof. This gives you the look you want, and what "looks" like an attic space in which to build your office space.

 

You may now draw in any walls needed to enclose the office. Set the space outside the office to have an "attic" room type.

[rfcomm2k]

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.

[Jo_Ann]

It sounds like you are getting confused thinking that you have to build a 'new' 2nd floor above the garage.  The 2nd floor already exists.  You just have to draw OVER the existing 'attic' walls with new exterior walls, or the program won't recognize that space as a usable room.  Open the new room, and set the finished ceiling to '0', and uncheck 'ceiling over this room'.  Rebuild the roof, and it should now still look like an 'attic', but is ready to be used as partitioned rooms by adding knee walls and interior walls.

 

This works any time you want the roof eaves to rest on top of floor 1.

[solver]

Draw the first floor.

 

Create a second floor. YOU will think of this as an Attic space, the program will consider this as a second floor. 

 

You will need walls around the exterior of the entire structure to create one big room on the second floor. This is simply the way the software works -- walls define rooms which define ceiling height. Set the ceiling height to 0 and uncheck Ceiling Over This Room. This gets the roof to build where you want it, and allows you to partition the space into rooms.

 

Build the roof.

 

You now have a large "attic" in which to build rooms. Today it's over the garage, later it will be when they decide to create living space in the remainder of the "attic".

[Kbird1]

It sounds like Eric and Jo , have explained things pretty well  , I am guessing you added the garage after you designed the 2 storey house? , in situations like that ,were you add a single storey addition or garage in this case, you will need to manually draw the walls on the 2nd floor , on the addition/garage ,otherwise you would lose all your work on the 2nd floor ,when you deleted the 2nd floor and rebuilt it ,auto, over the whole structure, which maybe an option in this case now? 

 

If you now don't care about the second floor over entire structure ,you could just delete it ..... or delete it ,add the new 2nd storey ,set at 0" height and use the "ignore 2nd floor" option in the Build Roof DBX, then you will have one massive room on the 2nd floor ready for further development.

 

If you intend to upgrade to Pro 2016 ,Eric or I could share plans with you if needed.

 

M.