Ed_Orum

How can I get an elevation view of the only the foundation and footings? Thanks, Lane

In my experience of using Chief since around the later part of the 90's, the word "workaround" translates into hours of frustration and never really getting what you thought a CAD program was designed to do in the first place. Little things like Chief considering a sill plate to be part of the foundation instead part of the frame get to be very frustrating in section views and elevation views. Things like adjusting wall heights seem to take a long, long, long time to get correctly. And Chief seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to adjusting foundation wall heights to accommodate frost levels ang grade conditions. I have been slowly learning Softplan, and when I get a little more competent I will probably switch all of my new work to Softplan. It seems to draw the model more like you would build the model in the field, and offers way, way more options for library objects, framing, and better material lists. Chief is fine for relatively straight forward box on box construction, which is probably 80% of my work. The other 20% though has compelled me to look into the other program to do the things Chief cannot do or does not do well. Sometimes I sub out the Chief work to other Chief users who know more about the program than I do or are simply better at using it. By the way, good luck in your endeavors.

Closed cell foam @ R7 per inch will allow you to meet the energy code with no venting, however you now need to consider that area volume into the requirements for the HRV/ERV system. If you use fiberglass or cellulose, you may not have enough R-value because of the venting requirements, but the Energy Code allows a lower R-value in ceilings without attic space. In fifty years of doing construction drawings, I have never seen one building department kick a plan back if "Continuous Ridge Vent" and "Ventilated Soffit" is specified. But, around here we can always tell when the building inspectors have gone to a continuing education seminar, because for the next few months they are all looking for the same thing.

He is confusing stud height with wall height. For a 12' (nominal) wall height, the stud height is 11'-8 5/8".

Thanks Perry, I was afraid that the solution would be a slab on slab.

This is an existing garage being converted into living space. There is no slab poured yet. The double bottom plate sits on top of the foundation wall. The Slab bottom of the slab needs to rest on the top of the foundation wall and extend to the frame wall. Right now I can get the elevation of the slab correct by giving it a -4" elevation, but I cannot get it to extend to meet the frame wall. I was thinking of omitting the floor completely and just using a polyline solid. Is that the best approach or is there a way to extend the floor slab? The plan is attached, Cross section 1. Thanks in advance, Lane 03-19-21 Eisner Plan File.plan

thats it, Thanks!

The screenshot shows the concrete slab in the bump out floating above the rest of the basement floor. How do I get the slab to be in the correct position (resting on the footings like the rest of the basement) but still leave the landing floor above in the correct elevation? Plan is attached. Thanks in advance, Lane Raised Ranch 5230 Plan File.plan

Hello, I installed chief on my laptop so I could bring it to jobsites. However, my toolbar does not show up. So how can I get the same toolbar configuration on my laptop as I have on my desktop? I do not see a button for exporting toolbar from the desktop to a file, and then import to the laptop. Thanks, Lane

I have a plan and want to delete all of the framing except two items. I have put the two items on separate layers, and locked those layers. The trouble is, only one of the items remain after I delete all framing. Attached is the plan; the New Floor Joists remain, and I want that. The steel beams in the garage disappear; I want to keep them. Both items are on Floor 1. Another problem, when I click on the Framing Overview, the layer set comes up as room assignments. I want it to be the framing layer set. How can I set that to the correct view and layer set? thanks in advance, Lane 01-09-2021 Proposed Structure.plan

Does anyone use a Canon TM-200 Printer? I was wondering how it works with printing line weights and line colors. Thanks, Lane

Thanks everyone for the insight! Happy New Year!

Can porch posts be placed or moved manually? I do not want them equally spaced but need to space them in relation to windows and doors. Thanks in advance, and Happy New Year!

I have a few hundred of them to move from one plan to another. Do you mean one by one or can I do a group copy and paste? My system will no allow me to highlight more than one cad detail at a time.

How do you import CAD details from one plan file to another plan file and not have them associate themselves with the plan they were exported from? These CAD details are in a plan, not in the user library. I suppose I could open the detail, then save it to the library, but I was hoping I could import them directly from one plan to another. Thanks in advance, Lane

Thanks! I never use automatic roofs, I find it a lot easier to do them manually as they almost always require some sort of adjustment. It was easy to lift it with transform/replicate on the Z axis. Thanks again.

Is there a way to link the roof to a change in the height of the top plate. I have a plan where the field crew reported the top floor ceiling height at 92-1/4", and I drew the plan with that for the ceiling height. I built the roof, everything was fine until....the field crew reported they made an error and the actual height was 93". No problem, right? Wrong! Changing the height of the ceiling was simple in the structure dialog box. After that, I re-built walls, floors ceilings. The roof should have been raised by the 3/4" difference, but the roof remained where it was. I can raise it manually simply enough, but if everything is rebuilt, shouldn't the roof raise along with the top plate? If it does, what am I missing?

Alaskan_Son, thanks a million!

I messed up somewhere....my electrical schedule shows two callouts for each item. I think I might have two electrical schedules, but cannot find the second one. The first one is in a cad detail, Schedule, Electrical. I tried All Layers On, but cannot find the second one (if that is actually the issue). Help please! Plan attached. Thanks! Kolari, Remzi, Proposed Plan File.plan

Ugggggg....I think you are right. What the heck, I have only been using Chief for about 20 years. Oh well. Thanks so much!

Post the file and I will see if I can PDF print it to you then send it back.

I have a plan (attached) which I opened this morning to draw a header detail. I cannot get the dimensions to work in the CAD detail. The tape measure works, but no dimensions. Plan is attached. Cad Detail is "16'6" Header How can I get the dimensions to work? They worked fine until this morning. I am using Chief X 12 Thanks, Lane Smith, Mike Garrison NY Submission Plan.plan

I have a building that requires continuous (exterior) insulation. The manufacturer states the wall assembly should be (from inside to outside) for either 2x4 or 2x6 wall studs: Gypsum wallboard Vapor Barrier Cavity Insulation Structural Sheathing Vapor Barrier (tyveck) Continuous Insulation (Comfortboard 80) 1x4 Vertical Furring Strips 2x3 Horizontal Furring Strips (Client Specified) Siding I do not see any options for furring strips in the Define Wall Type box. How do I show the vertical and horizontal furring strips in the wall type? Thanks, Lane

I found it.

The main portion of the house is fine. The addition in the front shows up as regular 2x6 walls in floor plan view, but in the Structure tab the room comes up as a deck with railings. How do I get it to be the room? Plan attached. Smith, Mike Garrison NY Submission Plan.plan