Thick walls - how to make window well flair out?

[malconium]

I am working on a straw bale design that will obviously have thick walls. I found information in the knowledge base about how to adjust the placement of a window within the depth of the wall but I was not able to find out anything about how I might make the window well flair out on either the inside or outside depending on where the window is placed. For example if I put the window near the outside surface of a wall that is 21" thick I would like to have the sides of the window well wider at the inside surface of the wall. Is there a way to do this? I might also want to do it for a door in a thick wall.

[DavidJPotter]

Window wells take several steps:

 

1. create a custom slab with the outer dimensions of your window well walls.

2. create a terrain feature the same shape as the outer edges of the custom slab created in step #1 and set that feature as a "Hole in Terrain"

3. The terrain hole cuts away the terrain into which you place the custom slab against the exterior wall so it can surround the area outside the window

4. then copy-paste those where you have basement windows below grade.

 

DJP

[Elovia]

Hi Malcolm,

 

Do I correctly understand your request that you want the window opening on the interior of a thick wall to be wider and taller than the opening on the exterior?

 

If so, the short answer is "yes, you can do this in Pro but the software doesn't have tools to do it automatically."

 

This type of construction detail may be better explained in a note or in a stylized detail added to plans.  However, if you need a visual 3D model, then you'll probably have to build it manually and the model will get somewhat messy from a materials perspective.  I suggest forgoing the window tool altogether, and create a window opening using a doorway (i.e., grab and pull up the bottom of the doorway to form the bottom of your window opening).  Then build the window, case and sills manually using a combination of wedges, soffits, and cylinders (if you're going for a rounded flair opening) ... all with appropriate textures applied.  The work will be somewhat tedious and will require patience and attention to detail, but you may be surprised at the results.

 

Probably an easier way would be to use a thinner wall thickness for the section where you want the window, and then apply interior soffit layers to match the thick walls on either side and to frame the interior opening.  Then, use slabs to form the vertical sections that flair.  I created a quick mock up shown below using a triangular slab on the left and a curved slab on the right for different flavors of flair.

 

Good luck.

 

[malconium]

Hi Malcolm,

 

Do I correctly understand your request that you want the window opening on the interior of a thick wall to be wider and taller than the opening on the exterior?

 

If so, the short answer is "yes, you can do this in Pro but the software doesn't have tools to do it automatically."

 

This type of construction detail may be better explained in a note or in a stylized detail added to plans.  However, if you need a visual 3D model, then you'll probably have to build it manually and the model will get somewhat messy from a materials perspective.  I suggest forgoing the window tool altogether, and create a window opening using a doorway (i.e., grab and pull up the bottom of the doorway to form the bottom of your window opening).  Then build the window, case and sills manually using a combination of wedges, soffits, and cylinders (if you're going for a rounded flair opening) ... all with appropriate textures applied.  The work will be somewhat tedious and will require patience and attention to detail, but you may be surprised at the results.

 

Probably an easier way would be to use a thinner wall thickness for the section where you want the window, and then apply interior soffit layers to match the thick walls on either side and to frame the interior opening.  Then, use slabs to form the vertical sections that flair.  I created a quick mock up shown below using a triangular slab on the left and a curved slab on the right for different flavors of flair.

 

Good luck.

 

window.jpg

This was what I was after - at least up to a point. I was able to duplicate your suggested approach using soffits and slabs. I can get the 3D view to look fine as long as I pick the same material types for the soffits and slabs. The floor plan view though shows both the outer wall and the inner soffit/slab parts. How would I get the wall to look like a single material? I have played around with changing fill colors even making lines white with zero thickness and it looks like I can get something to work with enough effort. It is not easy to move windows though once I have set up all of soffits and slabs for a given window scenario.

[DavidJPotter]

Sorry I misunderstood (not hard to do), what you seem to want, I would call a "Bay Window", glad you got some useful help.

 

DJP

[Elovia]

This was what I was after - at least up to a point. I was able to duplicate your suggested approach using soffits and slabs. I can get the 3D view to look fine as long as I pick the same material types for the soffits and slabs. The floor plan view though shows both the outer wall and the inner soffit/slab parts. How would I get the wall to look like a single material? I have played around with changing fill colors even making lines white with zero thickness and it looks like I can get something to work with enough effort. It is not easy to move windows though once I have set up all of soffits and slabs for a given window scenario.

 

Unfortunately, this is an either/or situation given the software's current capabilities.  You can create a plan view using the normally thick wall and window (hence my suggestion to use a detail or note to describe the desired work), but if you want to create a 3D render for visualization purposes, then you'll need to sacrifice the plan view for the aesthetic. And yes, because of the manual workaround, making changes is much harder.  Now that you've gotten the technique down for the visual detail, you can apply it again fairly quickly after you've decided where your window should go.

 

Good luck.

[Jo_Ann]

Here is my effort at what you are trying to do.

 

Elovia has the right idea about using a pass-thru (doorway) and 'shapes' to form the window well.

Obviously the pass-thru has to be larger that the actual window.  But instead of building the window from soffits, did you know that...  you can place a regular window in a solid portion of the wall, then ctrl/drag the window into the pass-thru?

 

If you add the umpteen soffits and shapes  (interior/exterior, required to build the flared well)  into the attic level (or even a 3rd floor blank level)  and then drag them down to your working floor level----they won't show on the floor plan of the working level  (but they display (in 3d) where you put them.  Blocking all those pieces together would simplify adding them to other window wells.

 

In order to make the floor plan wall (where it stops at the pass-thru)  look like it meets the regular window (within the pass-thru) , you could add cad boxes and alter their appearance to whatever looks acceptable to you, on the 2d floor plan view.