RyanDe

Hmm, I'll have to try that, thanks. :-) It appears (sorry, not looking at it now) that with my pitch the way it is I'm also seeing a part of the second story and not just the attic. Would adding the attic wall fix this [if it's true] ? Funny you responded, I just got done watching your videos on roofs. :-) Great stuff, keep it up.

I'm trying to have two different pitched roofs and I finally got it to work but I have this issue of a wall gap that isn't exterior wall. Is there some box I need to check or something to fix that?

Thanks everyone for your advice, I'm definitely going to get professional help but I really enjoy this so I figured I might as well learn and do as much as I can do have fun and to save some money. After my first few days in CA this is what I have so far. I'm going to focus on the layout more and try not to focus on the framing just yet and try to find a local architect to agree to sit down with me and be patient. :-) Feel free to comment on my design, I have thick skin and since it's my first time ever in CA or designing a house I'm sure I've done a lot of things wrong. ;-) Obviously it's not done either so keep that in mind.

Good point, I think the books I got will show me that + common sense + looking at other plans. I also have to worry about code stuff (outlet placement, lights, etc) which should be easy to fix/adjust after the plan is done.

Thanks. I should probably find someone to give me an hour a week of their time since I seem to be doing "not normal" stuff that is probably really expensive to do. :-) We want to keep cost down while making a house we want to live it for 50 years. My big questions now are these roof questions w/ beams etc and we want a wall of windows like this: http://www.linwoodhomes.com/house-plans/plans/everett2/ which probably has it's own structural challenges.

And that's what I don't know but need to know. If doing X will cost $20k extra ideally I know that now while I'm planning the layout. I probably should find a local architect that will work with me hourly to go over my plans. Do some work, bring it in and go over it with him to catch things early. An example of this is my current plan is 33' deep but I read that if the plan is less than 30' it's easier to do certain things (not sure why) so if I know these "rules" going into it I can plan better.

No, I will not be building it myself, I'll be hiring a builder/contractor. I've always been interested in architecture (almost went to school for it until I found programming) so now that we're planning on building our house I want to be involved. I'm using Chief to plan everything using photos and plans from other houses we like. I have some books coming to teach me the terminology etc so hopefully I'll be able to communicate my needs and questions better. :-) My plan is to get the plan as far along as I think I can take it and then hand it over to a pro to correct/finish.

Thanks, I'll definitely run everything by an engineer but should I worry about any of these changes altering the overall layout? I was thinking I should get it right now (size wise maybe not type etc) so it doesn't affect the plan but if it's autogen maybe that doesn't matter? We'd also like to have exposed beams but I'm not sure how that affects the load/framing and if we can use those as rafters or not.

I'm playing around with a vaulted ceiling and noticed in the framing section that the rafters are 256" long and the center frame pole (what's this called?) is 342 5/8" long. I don't think they make dimensional lumber this large and it probably wouldn't be very good if they did but Chief has chosen normal 2x6"s so is this something I have to watch and change myself? Also, same plan the ridge board seems pretty dinky. Is this something chief would recognize/fix for me or would I have to do it? I can't figure out how to put in a ridge beam even if I wanted to...

What's the best way to model an existing house so I can play with remodeling it? Should I measure the entire interior and build it out that way? Room by room? Exterior first? What works best for you guys?

We're currently planning our dream lake house that we hope to start building in 1-2 years so I've started to model everything out in Chief but I'm no architect. Since I have a lot of time I've been learning a lot and it's coming together but I'm lost when it comes to certain things (load, code requirements, etc) so ideally when I'm done with what I feel is far as I can take it I hand it over to a professional to clean, adjust and make buildable. Is this something that people here (or somewhere else) do? Would it be a pain to pick up a project like this?