contractcad

Worked like a charm

I know this is kind of an odd question but I have a reason for it. I'd like to indicate an interior door as an exterior door so as to be shown and tabulated on my door schedule as such. I know that Chief automatically determines Interior or exterior by where the door is placed and although I've attempted to find some way to override and force the door to be shown as an exterior door I haven't been able to do so. I don't want to change my door schedule to a text entity as a means to an end because I don't want to loose the door schedule's associativity and automatic updating with the plan. The reason for me wanting to do this is because the door is on a wall between an unheated garage and the basement and I am using that same wall as my insulation barrier in rescheck energy calculations so the interior door is going to be insulated and will also then be identical to another exterior door located elsewhere. Being able to designate the interior door as exterior I can then have a qty 2 shown for two identical doors.

Thanks solver, removing that wayward break in the roof plane got rid of my soffit problem. As for the outside walls where I needed siding I just went with adding faces rather than changing wall types because of the annoyance of siding getting inside the house envelope (but I guess I get drywall where I don't want it as well - unless I mess with the wall type). I like how the dormers only take the siding walls down to the roof plane - was trying to see if I could accomplish the same using regular walls in the other areas and just changing wall options but didn't see a magic button anywhere to do that. Now in the one dormer where I added drywall walls below the siding walls of the dormer that are above the roof plane I got the interior at least to look right on the inside of the room but I had wall connection issues whereby the small unfinished attic spaces would still highlight with the rest of the room and I couldn't specify them as attic space - but... close enough! Kbird, I'm sure my main problem in the one area I am missing part of the wall is the fact I didn't draw a wall there. I really didn't get that far into the house to really know how that room looks (bathroom with what I believe is another sloped ceiling over the tub) and it's so far not in the scope of my project so I am fine with just skinning the outside with a face showing siding for now. I do have another question on locating faces and solids depth wise. When I create them in a view they can sometimes end up far beyond the area that I attempt to create them and I have to switch to a view 90 degrees from the one I was in and then find it to wrangle the thing back to actual spot I want it. Am I missing a step to precisely locate them when I make these things?

I have a couple issues regarding the attached plan that I'm hoping someone can direct me in the best approach to solve. I have several locations where my roof planes overlap that I am not getting my exterior siding along with the area shown in the picture where I have a bit of missing wall as well. I already took care of one area by being able to place a straightforward dormer but the balance I thought was either a bit to cut up to try or not an area I'd really consider a dormer (not sure how well it would work). I can fix a couple of spots by just adding a face skinned with the exterior siding but in the area shown by the picture I included shows my missing wall that I mentioned before. I also have circled an anomaly caused by where I have the corresponding roof baseline located that I'm not sure how to solve either. Also, note that the plan is being drawn as the way the home exists at this time but I will be adding an addition to the front gable end to extend it out by 20 feet or so. My next question is regarding setting up roofs for rafters/trusses which I can select in the default roof settings for the plan. This house is mostly rafters but the front gable end is no doubt a scissors truss with 3/12 cathedral ceiling which I plan to continue into the new addition. Just not seeing where I can select trusses for individual roof planes. 1520 Pettibone Alt01.plan

Thanks Alaskan, checking "use layout line scaling" on each corresponding layout box fixed my problem, but my "Drawing Sheet Setup" is correct and I haven't changed it. I'm sure it has to do with me changing my scale when sending a plot plan to layout view several days ago and now that scale is always defaulting to what I previously selected. (1/4" = 8Ft) rather the 1/4"=1ft that I am using for these floor plans. Don't have a clue why it's still defaulting to that odd scale when I know I've sent several views to layout using the correct scale. Now I know several slipped by and ended up on the sheet at the 1/4" = 8ft and I had to rescale them but I don't know if these are the only ones that caused me problems or if it's more global. I think it was all plan views had problems and none of my elevations (which also default to the odd scale) did. My Elevations are giving other problems tho' which I mentioned in my other post, namely dimensions shifting that are part of the elevation view as well as grade lines shifting that were overlaid on the sheet's layout box (when printing to a pdf file).

Yep, tried it there as well

Never had this Problem before, in a rush to get some preliminary PDFs to the customer so I'm probably overlooking something simple. Take a look at several plan views in my attached PDF drawing package and notice the fat lines. I see nowhere where I can adjust the output and I've looked at all my layer lineweights and don't see anything amiss there either. Can't adjust anything in either PDF printer I'm trying to use as well. The only thing I messed with that I can remember was cranking up a hatch lineweight in the polygon box I was trying to use but I don't see how that would affect everything else. Anyone have a clue to what I am missing? ad_25500_167.pdf

Joey, I figured I could change the wall linetype but never tried because of the reason of above grond lines that Ridge Runner gave, but I figured what the heck and just now attempted your suggestion - but without success. I can easily change the foundation wall linetype in the plan view but no matter what I try (ie. change linetype under wall type in the wall specification dialogue or all layers that pop up when I highlight the wall in the elevation view) I cannot get the elevation view to display the foundation as hidden lines.

Yep I tried several pdf printers. or at least 2 and disregarded a third (Microsoft print to PDF does not print in D size). And one of the other 2 was the Chief Architect Print to PDF

I'm creating Elevations in Line Drawing view and am attempting to display the foundation lines below grade as hidden. I'm trying to use a technique I've seen used before where you mask the area in a polyline box with a transparent background and the border whited out along with a diagonal fill hatch in white. My first issue is that even though I attempt to widen the spacing I've created between the dashes using line weight it appears that I'm not seeing a noticeable change in width in my Elevation View. I've attempted to check my work by printing to PDF but I have come across another problem that acts more like a bug in the program than an error that I have created. On the elevation that I've attempted to modify in this way my polyline box I have created prints as a large blank spot covering an area around twice that the box actually covers, taking out the house completely from just under the roof line and extending down past the elevation label. I also have problems that elevation dimensions creating in the view shift noticeably from layout to pdf. Lines that I have overlaid onto the said elevation depicting grades also shift wildly from layout to pdf print. I also have another elevation view on that same page that has ghosting and shifting of lines. I'd be pulling my hair out about now but... don't have enough to do so. Now it's been a while since 9488 Silverside 18 0127 sht 4 19 0215.pdf

Got it, thanks

Sorry about the spelling Alaskan...

Alasman Son, I double checked to make sure, but I'm not able to break the contour line using the break command that becomes available when said line is highlighted. It only places another vertex within the line at the point chosen.

Here I have attached a copy of my drawing file as well as a pdf markup and a couple pictures of the actual site. Note that at this point in time I'm showing the renovated home (a proposed complete teardown of the wood structure with a new addition to the basement at the front of the home along with an excavated new front porch - area of existing foundation to be raised with several courses of block) on the site's existing grade. My discussion at this time with the owner is whether to raise the existing foundation 2 block or 3 block, so until this is decided I have yet to show the lot with the added fill. 9488_Silverside_18_0127.plan 9488 Silverside 19 0127.pdf

I'm back working on a project that I had put on hold for several months, and am having issues while trying to create topography that is consistent with the actual site. I recently went to the site with a laser level and got enough points to extrapolate out some actual contour lines in AutoCAD that I then brought into my project as elevation data. That worked well enough but there are several areas Chief Architect interpreted somewhat screwy as well as a couple of areas I wanted to modify that I'm not able to do. I want to add or modify a couple of spots with retaining walls and different elevations and I'm thinking the several problem areas are because I need to add terrain breaks. But I am having a real difficult time because I think my imported contour lines that cross continuous thru the areas I want to modify override any changes I'm attempting to make (like trying to add a terrain break or retaining wall that crosses over several contour lines). So my first thought is to just add a break or trim the contour line which with my long history of AutoCAD should be an easy thing to do... but no, it turns out it isn't. Even though when I highlight said elevation contour line and the modification ribbon at the bottom of my screen gives me the commands to do so... I frustratingly unable to get the job done. I can easily trim and break a dumb straight line or arc but no can do with either contour lines or splines. My only way I see out of this right now is delete my existing contour lines, go back into AutoCAD and trim and break there, then re-import the modified contours back into my drawing. In doing this I will no doubt have to do it several times before I get it right and being so unfamiliar with the process I worry about having considerable more time into the project and then having to backtrack to modify topography more. Am I missing anything here?

CA X version: Yep, made a boo boo regarding my signature. I swore I placed X9 but must have had Windows 10 on my brain when I typed it out. I've corrected it to show X9 now. Roof hole: Clicking on the actual roof hole DOES work. I was clicking on the roof plane expecting to see grips for the hole. Still working on the dormer side walls, where the interior wall that I'm trying to align the sided side dormer wall above. I still have to delete both dormers and re-apply them to see if I can get the near side dormer wall and third level railing to align with the 2nd level bedroom wall WITHOUT having the third level floor disappear. Tried the same hole adjustment to correct a problem I have regarding ceiling drywall around the one skylight in the existing 2nd floor bedroom but although I can easily grab the ceiling hole and move it around it does not reflect the change where I'm trying to remove the drywall gap and overlap at the top and bottom of said skylight. The only way I can correct it is by turning on a flat ceiling in the room or turn on the roof over room radio button. Neither of which I want. Turning on the roof over room radio button screws up the cathedral ceiling I have in the room. Other problem area: I was able to correct the roof plane somewhat to reduce the problem that I had but have not been able to add or adjust the wall that doesn't end up messing up the area. Regarding your question about roof planes, yes, yes the roof does encroach into the home as you surmise. This home started out as a tiny little lakeside cottage 60 to 70 years ago and has had at least three major additions. Note the pictures below how the old roof was incorporated into an elevated bed when the previous owner added the original 2nd level.

Hi Solver, Thanks for the response, although I am unable to adjust the roof hole because I have no grips show up for it when I click on the roof plane. It may have to do with me having exploded the Dormer. As you said I was able to pull the railing wall flush to the dormer side walls without loosing the floor but things got screwy when I tried to pull everything as an assembly to re-flush the railing above with the bedroom wall below (floor gone, roof hole staying in place, etc.) again probably a lot to do with dormers being exploded. I will delete the dormers and relocate again after repairing the roof. I'm pretty well resigned to having fix the missing siding I'm sure I'll get with polyline faces. I've attached photos of the other problem area I spoke about. The only thing that would be nice to get rid of is the drywall on the exterior. I can hide the rest. Gary, I truly appreciate your help but I've yet to upgrade to X10. I'm still using X9 so I was unable to open your modified file. Thanks so much

I've got a problem trying to locate a dormer on top of a roof. First, the client wants the dormer face to be flush with the wall below but as you can see in the plan once I flush the face walls I loose my siding. Second, I also wanted to flush the near side wall with the short wall railing I have on the inside of the third floor so they blend together and just as I thought, that was a lot to ask CA to do. I immediately lose my third floor (stays gone even after I pull the railing into the dormer side wall to connect it) and other crazy crap happens like loosing walls with other walls poking up through the roof. (I did have to explode the dormers to be able to move the front face of the dormer over the top of the wall below) Granted this thing is a cut up mess but the shell of the house actually already exists as shown (other than the dormers to be added) so I really don't have to worry about depicting anything to be structurally accurate. This plan is only for the build-out of the empty space above the garage and remodel of the first floor. I can fix most of this like I have with a lot of the other interior and exterior walls by just adding a polyline face or solid but thought I'd ask because these twin dormers are something to be added to the shell and I would like to be accurate. One other thing that's given me fits is a void in the ceiling in the room adjacent to the stairwell that is above the 2nd floor landing of the stairs going up to the third level. This also isn't a big deal but it does have an annoying slice of drywall showing in the eave at the peak of the roof above. I think this is probably due to how I originally pieced this thing together (possibly the program not recognizing a room in that area for the third level???) but will live with it if there's no easy answer because I don't feel like deconstructing/reconstructing stuff and creating other problems now that I've got it mostly to work. House_3.plan

Yep, placing landings at the top did work, although the stair section didn't automatically attach. Still had to shut off the railings on the landings though.

Thanks KBird1, I was able to get the winders to do something close to what I was looking for but it didn't display exactly how I wanted it. I didn't want an inside radius so I ended up using room dividers with lower floor heights for my 2 winder steps so I had a sharp inside corner and also position them so I made my 6 inch minimum inside tread depth code requires. Of course it doesn't make the 1" nosing like I have on the rest of the steps but I'm sure I can manually add that if I wanted to (handrails as well). I don't like that it displays as a hidden wall in the plan view but to me it's good enough. Also, I was actually surprised I was able to get the walls to join well enough at the corners (using my room partition method) to have the drywall join at said corners because initially it was looking pretty bad.

Yeah, that did work. Had to remove the porch I had finished tho'. My mind was locked into wanting to work top down rather than bottom up. Still wondering about my stair question though.

Version X9 I've got to dilemas, the first one is a pressing issue about foundations/basements that I'm dealing with right now. 2nd one regarding stairs is something I may want to visit in my current plan in the future to give me a little more head height under the main floor going down to the basement. Firstly, I originally drew the plan I'm working on with a walkout basement without a front porch (to be dealt with at a later time) and it had several things going on whereas in making the basement work to a lot of effort and is something I don't want to delete. I originally created the front porch as a slab and added the foundation walls to it manually which worked well. I have since discussed with the client that because she need so much fill around the house she could easily turn the area under the porch into a secure room that is attached and accessed from the basement. I just don't see a way to make it an automatically generated basement room without deleting the foundation and redoing a lot of work. I can go thru and manually create it, and manually add the floor etc. if need be but wanted to see if there was a trick, process or tool I don't know about. As for the stairs, I also have a situation where the stair landing at the top of the basement stairs I may want to segment into to or three steps that fan 90 degrees as you step into the stairwell from the main floor. It would give me 8 to 24 more inches of head height as I pass from the stairwell and under the main floor. I used to have a old home designer version from the early 2000s that was based on Chief Architect which I thought gave me this option in the stair design tools.

rlacklore, 1st, the edit wall intersections tool worked great... except for the lower portion of the pony wall on my 1st level. I cannot seem to grab that portion of the wall either in the plan or 3d views where that tool button is available. You were obviously able to do so but I still need to be clued in. Also, regarding that same corner (plus the other window area down the north wall from that corner) I still have the problem of not being able to precisely locate wall transitions that close to wall intersections. gotta be able to move the thickened wall portion within 2 feet of the corner without being overridden by the adjacent wall type. As for placing just placing my CMU on the main layer I don't think I can blend flush the brick veneer to the CMU like how it is on the building, unless I'm still not understanding something. Making the partition walls with a shelf ceiling in that envelope works well, but I do still have the problem with my 8" cmu partition wall where I'm still using a pony wall because the block goes all the way up to support the mezzanine wall. So that wall I either have to live with it not showing correctly in the plan view, or just not be so anal about accuracy when it's not that important. Leave it as a full wall that shows the drywall in the plan view and toggle the pony wall if I do any 3d or wall elevation views. Now about the interior commercial doorway I think I may have a workaround again using a pony wall setup but I KNOW I'm going to be frustrated from not being able to easily control wall transitions so close to wall intersections.

Also another question to add to my last post (that still I'm hoping to get some comments on). I've added some partition walls to the office whereby I made them using pony walls that the lower portion is the partition wall made to a approximate 8 foot height and the upper wall is a custom "NONE" wall I created with no attributes but made to the same widths and thickness as to a regular drywall and stud wall which I can then use a fill color in the area of the studs. Works great except that it will fill thru doors, windows etc. in the plan view and just looks wrong. I basically am trying to create a plenum area that looks more correct in camera and section views. Camera views are fine but section views show a white area from the top of the pony wall to the full height of the wall. I've tried making the walls a solid rail wall to control height but when inserting doors there is always a void above them in camera and section views. (windows for some reason don't have this problem) Is there a better way to do this?

Well here is what I came up with so far, I haven't placed windows on either the west or north side yet because I frustratingly can't extend walls on either side to their correct dimensions without the program overriding any wall that I'm dragging along it's length and having it run all the way to the end. Can't find any wall setting that I can shut off to keep this from happening. (not the first time I've had this problem). I see I also have a reoccurring annoyance where the at the northwest corner where I created a thickened wall that the block is exposed thru the brick veneer which I figure has to be patched with a polyline face. I can do that after I tame my wall problems. I did create one pilaster on the south side (where the brick begins) using a polyline solid. I guess for me to have it appear on each floor plan I probably have it rise only one level and then duplicate it for each floor. I also had a problem with creating the inner door setup whereby my doorframe wanted to default to being the full thickness of the block/brick wall I was inserting it in when I was trying to force the frame to be only 4 inches wide to duplicate the actual Bronzed aluminum frame in the building. I was able to accomplish making the window sidelight next to it 4 inches but I deleted all of it in an attempt to insert a 4 inch wide wall into a doorway but couldn't get it done. I left it as a doorway and figured I'd ask for some tips on how it's done. I also plan to fill the voids in the mezzanine floor along the areas where the vertical siding is but was wondering if it may be better to delete the whole mezzanine floor and make it just one polyline solid. 18009 Building.plan