Mixed Foundation - Walls with Footings and Grade Beams on Piers

[FACES_Constr]

Hi! I believe my question is pretty basic, which makes me think I am missing some obvious automatic feature. I have a basic foundation that is mostly "Walls with Footings" (this is my automatic foundation type choice in Home Designed Pro 2024). The overall shell of the house is 25' x 60'. Since I am using lumber, I need a beam to run down the center of the house for floor joist support. I had hopes this would automatically be placed when I changed the joists to "lumber" vice an engineered material capable of such a span, but no luck there.

 

It seems from my research, adding a beam and piers is a manual task? ...confirmation please...

 

Where I am in this manual task:

Adding the beam was simple enough, I used Build>Framing>Floor/Ceiling Beam. Upon insertion my joists switched to the preset defaults of sitting on top of the beam and lap (Default settings>Framing Defaults>"Foundation" and "Beams"). My high consternation is when it came time to add the piers. There are many options to try, but I chose to use an external wall and manually changed the "Wall Type" to "16" CMU (block) Stem Wall," in the general tab I checked "Foundation Wall" and changed "Thickness" and "Wall Length" to 16" and in the "Foundation" tab changed Footing to the size for local codes and checked the "Sill Plate" box. So far so good, but the issue is this "wall" (aka pier) wants to be under just the joists. When under joists, it is perfect (sill plate correctly located). When I build or move it under the beam, the height is wrong (through the beam) and/or the sill plate disappears or is placed inside the beam. What am I doing wrong? I can make an annotation on the drawings to allow for a sill plate, but I would prefer it to be on the drawing...that is more professional than saying "I don't know how to work the software so imagine it is there..." 

 

Thanks and this is my first house to design with this software and I am certainly a beginner (though I have watched hours and hours of how-to videos and read for hours also), so please state the obvious if it is obvious, I will not get offended!

[solver]

The program is full of "helpful" automation that will frustrate you as long as you are using it. One of the issues all users face is figuring out if it's them or the program.

Your idea is sound, and I tried a bunch of things that I expected to work, but none did because the program is smarter than I am.

 

Yes, adding a beam and piers needs to be done manually.

 

Also, the Home Designer website has a search that includes the forum, and is a good place to look for solutions.

 

 

 

 

[FACES_Constr]

Thank you so much "solver"! This answer is super helpful and over the top for a contributor!

 

I particularly found the CAD line centering method helpful. There are a couple of reasons why:

1. I didn't know that was a tool that could be used for that purpose and

2. I should stop worrying when a method I derive is "manual" - sometimes that is the best/only way!

 

A note on searches, I think I am spoiled to AI searching already and was doing complex terms and phrases (e.g. placing a block pier on a footer" and never thought to do a simple search on "Piers," yet another helpful tip from your reply!

 

For those who find this thread in searches, I attached my completed image using the techniques from the video linked above: