RyanDe

No, you toggle up to the attic level and then manually draw your missing wall using the reference display to help you draw it in the right location.

 

DJP

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?

we want to live it for 50 years

 

Hi:

 

besides structural you want to consider "universal design" principles

also know as "aging in place"

 

these principles can have an impact on you overall design

 

lots of websites out there giving examples

for door size - hall size - bathrooms - light switch placement - outlet placement

shower size etc etc etc

 

Lew

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.

That's as good a strategy as any and I would focus on the design, and leave the structure alone for now, as that should free up your creative energy to design what you want free from structural restraints. Then when you get what you want design wise, see if it can be built and how much extra it might cost to stick with your design versus making some changes to save on the budget.

 

This strategy allows for much more freedom in the design process and one I employ a lot. Others will surely disagree and think that the structure should be considered during the design phase but I find that it just gets in the way and almost any design can be built as long as you are willing to write large enough checks.

 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.

I generally consult the engineer as soon as I see something in question or if I feel the engineering could run up the cost of the job so I can let the builder or homeowner know before I proceed. Sometimes engineering what a builder or homeowner wants could get expensive depending on the situation.

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.

I'm curious Ryan, are you building a house for yourself? What is your overall plan? Your knowledge seems to be very limited and your experience as well but I don't want assume such things without knowing what your overall plan is.

 

To answer your question more directly, exposed beams will effect the overall structure and load/framing if they are engineered to do so but they don't have to. You can also install exposed beams that have very little to no effect on the load/structure as well but again it's an engineering question as much as a design question and very difficult to answer in any definitive manner on this forum.

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.

1) Chief architect knows nothing about engineering. if you want your 250' ceiling held by 1"x1"s - 250' long have at it.

But this is what you set it at. Garbage in  - garbage out. Some of that depends not just on thickness of a material but also on species, grade such as M29.

 

 

Well, what's odd is CA put in an I-beam and LVL boards for the floor joists so it knows something. Maybe it's easy for it to understand some things but others are either too complicated or it doesn't feel right adding them?

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?