CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Good Morning, I would like to tackle setting up a Raised Ranch style home. Full Basement and First Floor Level separated by a Landing/Stairs that separate the two levels. Entrance way has stairs going up on the right (to the first floor level), and down on the left (to the basement). Can anyone help me get this ball rolling? Thank You Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 Here is my starting point... Garage on the left... Main living area (upstairs and downstairs) down the center. Addition that has been added on (to the right). Im trying to replicate the house I grew up in, just for practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 This is probably a bit more accurate... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCortes Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Watch the video: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/323/creating-a-split-entry.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 Hi Dave, Thank you for the reply. A gentleman was helping me yesterday, and he mentioned my signature as well. I thought i had that corrected- in my signature I indicated I am using Home Designer Suite 2019. I thought it was displaying properly now? I will check out the video, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 55 minutes ago, CoachRob14 said: Can anyone help me get this ball rolling? Go back to to your stair post and see the links for help I posted. The Knowledge Base is full of info and always a good place to start. Also, the 1 hour webinars, and other videos on YouTube are worth watching -- not for learning about one specific thing, but rather to learn how the program works in general. Just make sure you are watching the Home Designer videos, and remember they always use Pro in the videos, so there will be things you cannot do in Suite. 15 minutes ago, CoachRob14 said: I thought i had that corrected- in my signature I indicated I am using Home Designer Suite 2019. I thought it was displaying properly now? It is. What you see above is in Dave's signature, so it's always there. You see what others see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 I think maybe I should find a new hobby... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 Is my landing "Floor 1", my living level "Floor 2", and my Basement "Floor 0"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie65 Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 When doing a raised ranch, the lower level will be floor 0 and the main floor level 1. You run the stairs from floor 0 to floor 1 and they should be able to be split. I don't know what suite has, yet pro has U shaped stairs, which make it very quick. If your foundation goes below the floor of the basement, you can adjust the overall stem wall (hopefully in suite?) and then adjust the floor to ceiling to the desired height. Hope this helps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 Hi Keith, Suite does have the U Shaped Stairs. Forgive me as I try to wrap my head around these concepts. I walk in the front door and am immediately standing on the landing where I can go up or down. That is "Floor 1"? So at that point, I would need a ceiling (Let me say 9 Feet for example- and let me use a height of the stairs going up as 6 feet for example. Therefore, In my mind, I feel I have to create a ceiling height of 15 feet. I know this isn't correct, because I don't want ceiling heights throughout the entire first floor of 15 feet- I just want that separation of the landing and floor one. I'm going to change my user name to BoneHead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 So I used the U Shape Stairs, and have them going the proper direction. For the love of God, how do I align the landing, upon walking in the front door, WITH the front door? Adjust floor height? Adjust ceiling height? Something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidJPotter Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00263/creating-staircases-connected-by-landings.html https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00756/creating-a-landing-between-two-sets-of-stairs.html https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/search/?default_tab=video&q=stairs DJP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 Thank you to everyone who offered help throughout the day. just can't seem to get what I want- and it's not you, its me. I just can't get it to simulate anything like this raised ranch entrance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Stairs are often put in after the floors, walls and ceilings are in, so just leave a hole where the stairs go and get the rest in place. The program wants floors to connect the top and bottom of stairs to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 Eric, I did as you suggested. I created the Floor 1 Living Plan- it certainly isn't drawn to scale, but it is an estimate so you could see the layout. Below Master Bedroom and BR2 would be the garage- Below BR3 would be an office, and below the Main Bathroom would be the laundry room. Below the kitchen and dining room would be the downstairs living room. As you can see in level 2, I have indicated where I would like the stairs to go to create the raised ranch: Up to the right, down to the left. where do you suggest I go next? Weathers.plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 1 hour ago, CoachRob14 said: where do you suggest I go next? Build the lower floor/basement. Add the stairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 I used a floor, not a landing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 Okay. I went ahead and completed the lower level basement. I now have the 1st floor, and lower level basement area. Time to attempt the stairs, which I am still dreading, but we will see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 Well I'm going to throw in the towel on this one and start all over lol. I went to check my 3D view from downstairs. It is apparently a foundation, not an actual lower level. The ceilings are about 3 feet high, just an absolute mess. The only thing I can think of is that I need to make my "living level" floor 2, and my basement "floor 1", with the foundation below that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie65 Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Rob, In a split level, the lower level IS the basement. As I mentioned, go to your settings and make the foundation "stem wall" the height of what you need the lower level to be PLUS how far below the grade your foundation is (typically 4' here in New England). Then go to the basement level (level 0) and check the defaults. There, you can see the full height of the foundation and then change the finished floor to ceiling height. That will give you the lower level floor you want. Then the stairs can connect level 0 to level 1. Then you can look at the stairs display, see the level that each stair section goes to. Then you drop your front door from floor 1 DOWN to where the landing is. Theoretically it's halfway between the 2 floors. Don't give up. Just do one thing at a time. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 I will try this. So let's say, for instance, the lower level basement has 8' ceilings. I would make the STEM WALL 12' (8 + the 4 feet below grade that you recommended)? Am I on the right track so far? So I created a foundation- I made the Stem Wall 12'. Then I went back, made the Floor level 4' (48"), and the ceiling height 12' (144")- The difference of the 12' ceiling height and the 4' Floor Level should give me the 8' floor to ceiling height on the lower level I am looking for, correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 19 minutes ago, CoachRob14 said: Am I on the right track so far? Probably not. Pictures of the exterior of the house you are modeling will help. Think of the house this way. Dig a 4' deep hole in the ground. The 4' could be anything, it depends on local conditions. Now drop your house into the hole. The front door is about level with the ground, and unless the ground slopes, it's dug out for access to the garage. Again, pictures would help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 Somehow I don't think this is quite correct. Lol Guess my measurements are off. I have to go back to the tutorials. I don't have an understanding if Ceiling A, Ceiling B, Floor, Floor to Ceiling, Floor Below, Relative Heights vs. Absolute Heights, etc. All Greek to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie65 Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Probably time to dig into the reference manual found in the "help" tab. When you open the room, concentrate on the floor you are working on. You can change each floor and those dimensions shown are cumulative. Think of it this way . . . the main house floor (level 1) should be at 0 inches. Then your basement floor (level 0) will be whatever height you need (say 8') PLUS the depth of the framing (say 10", which is 2x10 joists plus 3/4" subfloor. Though in Suite you may be stuck with one floor thickness/type only. So you use that. That will set the height of floor 0 below and it should be a negative number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRob14 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 So I'm getting somewhere. I have my living floor and my basement floor all laid out. Perspective view, I need to figure out how to lower the Garage to Ground Level. In the house i'm trying to design, if you could picture it, facing the front of the house- the Garage is on the left, and immediately to the right of it has a retaining wall approximately 4-5 feet high. Therefore, if i had to estimate, the bottom of the Front Door is approximately 6 feet 'Higher" than the Garage Door where it meets the ground. So I have to find out how to lower this Garage Door down to Zero (so to speak). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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