I can't figure out walkout basement foundation settings

[Don_Anderson]

I've started the layout of a rambler with walkout basement by starting with the first floor. I realized when I tried to put in the stairs and they looked strange that I need to now add the basement. I watched the training videos for basements and walkout basement and ended up with what is depicted in the attached screen shot. The footing is at least half the height of the foundation wall. The product used in the video is Home Designer Architectural 2015 and the menu for Build Foundation must be different from HDP 2015 because the dialogs don't look the same in HDP 2015. I tried making the height of the foundation 96" but apparently I put that dimension in the footing section. But I cannot find a place to put it so that the footing is the default value and the remainder of the foundation is 96".

 

I was able to set the terrain perimeter and the slope to allow the back of the house be be above ground but I also cannot figure out how to make the foundation step down on the sides of the house with the slope so at the back of the house it is just a slab and the back wall of the basement level is an exterior wall rather than concrete.

 

I am probably going to be asking a lot of questions of this nature until I get up to speed and I appreciate the patience of those of you for whom this is second nature. If there is another way for me to discover these things I am happy to hear about it but for now I only know to ask here. I have watched many of the videos which are very helpful but I still have many gaps in my knowledge.

 

Thanks,

Don

[Kbird1]

you'll have to delete the current foundation and rebuild it , but 1st set the Foundation Defaults in Edit>default settings>Foundation

 

Stem wall minimum height is the setting for the Foundation wall height and the width is typically 8" wide.For a Basement of 8' you'll need a stemwall of about 102" perhaps more?, due to the basement slab. but it tells you in the DBX what the height will be , just click on another editable number to get the field to update that info.

 

Click on the Edit Default Foundation Wall button to set the foot Footing, it is usually 24" wide here (earthquakes) but many places allow only 16" wide and I think is the Default in HD. Most places it is 8" thick , see the pic.

 

(DBX = Dialog Box , you'll see it used a lot on the Forum)

 

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[Kbird1]

Just remember Max that Don doesn't have the "tools" ( ie 15 yrs + experience) in his arsenal yet to do it manually which is why I suggested just starting again since it is literally 5-10 clicks of mouse and done.

[Kbird1]

No Problem ...I too like the Manual tools but still build mostly auto 1st then correct IF needed ,especially on simple stuff.

 

Don is lucky to have Pro and there will be many times he is glad of the extra functionality , but a lot of users here have the $79 Suite Version and they don't have all the "goodies" of Pro or Chief , I am surprised you are trying Pro actually since X4 still has lots of life left I'd think ( X4 is the same as version 10 Pro I think) , itsa pity is you do a plan in Pro15 you wont be able to use X4 with it , playing with simple stuff I don't know if you will see much different , if you ever want to do ConDocs etc again though that will be a different story, doable but a lot more work.

 

M.