Ed_Orum

Thanks, that's how I have been doing double headed arrows; I thought one may have been included with the program. Is there a way to put my library stored two sided arrow into the pull down menu for lines?

You are correct, in 20 years I have not learned all of the ins and outs of the program. I suspect that may be the case for others as well judging by the posts in this forum. The program is in all likelihood better than I give it credit for being. I still, after having built hundreds of houses, remodeled countless homes and drawn who knows how many plans cannot understand how a sill plate is part of a foundation, and not the frame. I do not understand why the program switches a room divider which should be only the width of a single line into a 3-1/2" interior wall dimensions. I still have trouble with generating lights, switches, anything electrical in an attic where there are no attic walls. My real problem is I need to get the work done, and not find "workarounds" for what I would have thought were everyday situations. I cannot understand why the dimensions reach things that are 8' away from where I am measuring even though the dimensions are set to locate things no more than 24" away. But, a while back I decided it was not really necessary for me to understand completely how Chief works and my failing to understand its in depth workings. I decided it was easier and more productive to get it as close as possible and then clean it up from there. I am sure the program will generate each and every situation with only a click of a button (like the two sided arrow I cannot seem to find), but again, easier to understand what are my limitations than to take whatever time is necessary to completely learn the program. This forum is great, I have learned a lot of things here, and I am sure I will continue to learn. Everyone seems willing to help, and it seems like almost all of us have had some issues with Chief. I am truly happy that so may people have a better understanding of Chief than I do, and I sincerely thank each and every one of them for all of their help over the years, and in advance for the help I will ask for in the future.

Thats what I did, raised it manually.

Larry, yes, I see Chief is single minded when it comes to wall heights. The problem with this model is there are existing conditions which have to be duplicated on paper, so the field dimensions dictate what the drawing needs to show. Chief is a good 2D program, and does a nice job of renderings, where it is all eye appeal but dimensional accuracy is not necessary or important. I've been using Chief for about 20 years, and always hoped it would become more like the real world, and I have always though it was designed by programmers who "book learned" the construction business as opposed to real world construction knowledge. But all in all, it does make me a pretty good part time income, so I am not complaining, just wishfully thinking of what a great program it could be.

Steve, in the cross section, the roof is still building at the 97-1/8" plate height. I think the only way to fix it is to raise the roof to the desired plate height. Regards, Lane De Muro

Thanks! Here it is. 08-06-2021 Gleason Front Entry.plan

I thought that might be it, but this room has two different "ceiling" heights, one at 97-1/8' and the other at 9'-2". I tried to use a room divider but ever time I try to pinpoint the location, Chief knows better and puts it a little off from where I want it to go. Maybe the framing contractors will be as smart as Chief, and built the entire roof at 97-1/8", then get a crane to raise it up while they tear down the 97-1/8" wall and put a new 9'2" wall underneath the roof. But thanks, I was afraid that was how chief did things. No imagination. Or maybe hire some framers to write the program.

I have several walls in a certain model that are not standard 97-1/8" tall, which is the default room height for this plan. When I go to build a roof over one exterior wall that is 9'-2" tall, the roof defaults to the 97-1/8" wall height. I can raise it in the z axis to the right height, but why wont it build like you would expect it to build, on the top plate of the 9'-2" wall? Thanks in advance, Lane

Got it. Thanks for the solutions!

I am trying to move an off angle wall into an exact position as determined by two points. One point is the end of an exterior wall, the other point is the end of a railing. I am starting with the two exterior walls--the one with Point "B" and the off angle wall. I can get those two into the proper position. Then I am trying to rotate the wall while holding Point "B", but when I get the off angle wall close to point "A", Chief takes over and connects the railing and the wall where it wants to, not where I want it to. So, how do I get this off angle wall precisely located to the points I have determined the wall should locate? The file is attached. Thanks in advance, Lane 08-06-2021 Gleason Front Entry.plan

11 x 17 is pretty common here, but the smallest printed word or dimension has to be 3/32". Many towns here accept any size you want to give them down to 11x17. Since our average submisison is around 25 sheets on 24x36 Arch D, that gets to be a lot on 11x17, but we don't make the rules. Some towns are now also requiring electronic submissions, either as the sole way to submit or in addition to the paper plans. Regardless of the sheet size, I use 3/32" for dimensions and notes. Some slightly larger for headers but nothing less.

That's what I cant figure out how do do? Can I convert a polyline solid to a trim object?

How do you change the window sill type, size, and profile for the exterior of a window. These windows have casings on sides and top and want a sill on the bottom. I can add a sill from the moldings catalog, but don't see how I can adjust it's size. thanks in advance

I bought the same AMD RX 560D-4G D5 graphics card from Yeston, via Amazon. I found the latest drive on the AMD site. I have to say, it appears to be a great graphics card for the money. Thanks for doing all the research! Lane De Muro

Thanks, that solved it. Lane De Muro

I tried a joist direction line and bearing lines showing the way I want the joists to run on the decks. No matter what I do, Chief sets them exactly the opposite. I cant get the deck joists to populate in the proper direction using the automatic deck framing tool. The attached plan shows what I want. How do I get it? Also, why does the joist direction show 2x10 when the specification box for the decks has the joists at 2x8's? Thanks in advance, Lane 05-20-21 Plan File.plan

I am looking forward to that in V8,453,829,210.03

Thank you! Lane

They are not the same. But what does a ceiling height have to do with a room area that is defined at the floor level? Or is it just the way Chief think the world should be? Lane

I draw a room divider, but it changes into a wall. How do I get it to stay a room divider with a horizontal dimension of "0"? Thanks, Lane

Thanks! That did the trick.

When an appliance such as a sink is placed into a base cabinet, how do I separate them out so the sink goes into the "Kitchen Fixtures And Appliance" Schedule while the cabinets goes into the "Cabinet Schedule"? Thanks in advance, Lane De Muro

It can be difficult to get the wobble out of a wall like this one. I usually incorporate a "plant shelf" on the interior which runs at the header level between the stacked windows. Where there are studs, the "shelf" frame runs from the outer edge of the studs and projects approximately 18" into the room. where the shelf runs across headers, it is screwed to the headers with Timberlock screws. The outer edge of the shelf is a 2x rim board. Then the top and bottom of the shelf get covered with 3/4" CDX, so essentially a beam or diaphragm is now giving lateral support to the wall. I don't know about other areas, but if we go over 11'6" high most local building departments require an "engineered design", but at the minimum the studs have to be #1 Grade, @ 12" O.C. Since all the plans I do are sealed by a PE, he specs out whatever is needed for an engineered design. The shelf also makes a great place for recessed lights in the wall, especially when it is over those big open patio doors. But in any situation like this, I would get an Engineer involved. Lane "

Ryan, Bullseye! I really can't believe I did not see that. Oh well, since I am a Chief newbie (started in the late 90's) I will stop pulling the rope on my ass kicking machine, forgive myself for this grievous error and say a heart felt thank you for that guess! Lane

Poof! My first floor walls, in plan view are now showing up as concrete walls. If I click on wall, it shadows the 2x6 exterior wall...almost as if it is acting as a pony wall with the lower wall a concrete and the lower wall showing in plan view. If I do an elevation view, all of the walls appear as they should in any plan view. I was playing around with some polyline solids to use as fascia trim when the disaster happened if that has any bering. The file size is too large so it will not upload, but here are two screenshot. One is showing the working plan view, and everything there is as it should be. When I change to the Floor Plan Dimensioned View, the exterior walls are masked by what appears to be a concrete wall for all the exterior walls. I have turned all layers off yet those walls remain. All layers are unlocked, yet I cannot click on those walls. Thanks in advance for any help. Lane