CMU Fence around backyard

[skearney00]

I'm trying to understand the correct way to create a CMU fence around the backyard.  

 

At first, I created a straight fence, but setting the material to CMU didn't do anything until I unchecked 'railing'.  However, once I enclosed the backyard, it created a 'room'

Next I tried a terrain wall, but I don't appear to be able to drop a gate into it.

 

What's the correct way to do this and maintain the enclosed area as 'terrain'?

[DavidJPotter]

I would use a fence set to the intended height and thickness.

 

DJP

[Elovia]

Many ways to do this ... but you were on the right track at one point.  Draw the CMU rails around the perimeter as you've done before, and then open all of the rail's specification dialogs (or shift-select them all as a group and open the group specification dialog); on the General tab, select the checkbox for "no room definition".  You will no longer get a room where you didn't want one, and you should be able to drop in a gate in the rail.

 

Good luck.

[skearney00]

Many ways to do this ... but you were on the right track at one point.  Draw the CMU rails around the perimeter as you've done before, and then open all of the rail's specification dialogs (or shift-select them all as a group and open the group specification dialog); on the General tab, select the checkbox for "no room definition".  You will no longer get a room where you didn't want one, and you should be able to drop in a gate in the rail.

 

Good luck.

 

I got rid of the room definition... thanks!  

So, it appears I want to create a half-wall or "solid" rail which then allows me to specify the wall height.  However, this creates the wall at the floor height and not on the terrain and I can't seem to reposition the wall up/down in 3D view.  A solid rail type disables "follow terrain"

 

If I just make it a standard wall, I can resize the height and position on the terrain--but this seems completely imprecise.

 

How do I precisely position a wall on the terrain and at a specific top height?

[DavidJPotter]

A fence will follow the terrain by default, it has a dialog where you set its height relative to the terrain.

 

DJP

[Elovia]

I got rid of the room definition... thanks!  

So, it appears I want to create a half-wall or "solid" rail which then allows me to specify the wall height.  However, this creates the wall at the floor height and not on the terrain and I can't seem to reposition the wall up/down in 3D view.  A solid rail type disables "follow terrain"

 

If I just make it a standard wall, I can resize the height and position on the terrain--but this seems completely imprecise.

 

How do I precisely position a wall on the terrain and at a specific top height?

 

You know your project far better than I do at this point, so I can't tell you specifically what to do to fix it.  But I offer a little food for thought.

 

If you want to build a Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) wall (as opposed to a fence or a rail), you will most likely want each course of the wall to be level - not follow the terrain - as that will be most pleasing to the eye and is expected construction for that wall type.  You will also not necessarily place the lowest course of blocks directly on soil, and instead will have some type of rigid foundation (e.g., a concrete spread footer slab) within which you may set hooks to anchor reinforcing steel if required due to code or application (e.g., partial retaining wall).  Now ... you haven't mentioned whether you intend to use non-standard CMU blocks, so if you do, that would be good information to offer up.

 

If your wall crosses variable terrain, you may want to add a step foundation upon which to lay your blocks so that they may be laid level and you'll get better economy by reducing the number of partial courses below ground surface.  And given that if your wall crosses any sort of elevation change on your terrain and if you've laid each course of your blocks level, you cannot avoid having variable height between the ground and the top of wall; the exception is if your wall precisely follows an elevation contour.

 

One way to more easily adjust your wall height with regard to ground surface is to draw your CMU wall on/over/in your terrain, and then use a back clipped camera from the face of the wall (drag as though you're looking through the wall).  You will see the wall and a line indicating how your terrain cuts across the face of it.  When you select the wall within that camera view, a temporary dimension should appear to the ground surface (if it doesn't, you can place a manual dimension for the same effect).  Click on the measurement's value and enter your new value.

 

It may help to have a perspective full overview camera tiled on screen with the back clip camera so you can see how it looks as you're adjusting.

 

Keep in mind that unless you plan to cut blocks down (can get expensive), you'll want an overall wall height that is a multiple of the individual block heights plus an allowance for mortar.  Side note:  you might need to fiddle a bit with the CMU texture to get it to look right (but that is another subject altogether).

 

Hope this helps.

[LawB10]

I agree with David, draw the fence using the build>fence command and then open it's specification box and go from there.

[DavidJPotter]

Elovia has a point relative to masonry fences, in that in the "real world" such things are stepped to follow changes in terrain. So a fence would follow the curvature of the terrain plane whereas a stone fence could follow terrain or as Elovia pointed out remain horizontal to the grade for sections. So in order to do this, I would use custom slabs that carry a CMU material. One could then copy paste and manually align the slabs one to another and relative to the changes in height of the terrain. Not a quick solution but rather a workable one.

 

DJP

[skearney00]

Thanks Elovia and David for the discussion!  

 

I'm just a homeowner looking to take more control over various improvement projects. My goal is just to get an accurate 3D model of the home and landscape so I can visualize/test my projects. I'm not necessarily needing accurate construction/materials plans, etc. 

 

So, what I believe I need is a masonry fence that has a constant top height regardless of terrain elevation.  Is there a simple way to do this?  It seems like this would be a pretty common thing--I know just about every home in the city of Phoenix has a CMU/Stucco fence.

Elovia, I see what you mean WRT to the backclipped view and editing the dimension.  This seems like maybe the quickest (if not correct) way to get this done- just need to extend the dimension down to the lowest terrain elevation for each segment.

 

One thing a "solid" fence doesn't reflect is the masonry support columns/pilasters.  I guess I may need to build something custom to accurately represent this.  I'm willing to devote the time and to RTFM if someone can start me in the right direction.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

3206-Landscape-5.plan

[solver]

You can use soffits, slabs, or the solid cube from the library.

 

Place the fence, then with another solid shape to model the columns, place them as needed. If they are every 10', for example, place a column in the corner and use transform/replicate to copy it.

 

There are CMU in the library.

 

It's been hot up here in Heber/Overgaard, would hate to be in the valley.

[skearney00]

 

It's been hot up here in Heber/Overgaard, would hate to be in the valley.

 

Was out golfing in it last Saturday like an idiot

[LawB10]

Looking at the pic, I see don't see why you are having a problem, this is a easy fix, all you have to do is follow the instructions that were given.

[LawB10]

Here's what I came up with...