Doug_N

Ok so I am getting close to what I need but wow was this difficult to do.

Hi Larry, Yes that more or less represents the concept. I have included my actual plan in the original post.

General note, The ceiling is cathedral with the rafters being engineered wood I beams, called TJIs by one manufacturer.

Hi Glen, and to everyone else. My mistake, I thought that I had uploaded the plan file, but as it turns out the file failed to upload because it was too big. I should have noticed that. Glen, Yes! This is exactly what I am trying to do, but if you notice in your cross section there is a horizontal construction. I can build the railing on a curb that matches the roof on the bottom but has a horizontal flat section so that it tapers, but I can't have a horizontal section under the roof. Doug

Wow Michael, that is really counter intuitive and strangely brilliant. I will let you know how it goes. Doug

Glen, If you build walls at the attic level they cut through the roof plane?

Thanks Eric, I am just on my way to bed, but I will take a peak in the morning. Doug

Mick's doesn't work because I can't have parapets around the roof, and the roof must slope.

I know how to build it, but the trick is to model this in a way that I can do a reasonable visual facsimile and generate construction drawings. The roof must have a shallow pitch, and the intent is to make this a green roof with a planted surface. It is not intended to be a patio.

I have a project where I have to put a guard rail around a roof, and an access doghouse for access stairs Railings have to go where the red lines are, and the railing has to be 42" above the roof deck. Suggestions?? This one has me perplexed. Untitled 2.zip

Just for information, there is more than one way to convert values, for example in place of %$ga=(area.convert_to("sq m")).round(2)% m² you could also use %$ga=(area.to_sq_m,round(2)% m² and as Michael pointed out, anything between the % symbols is actually a macro, but it is not a recorded macro that you can reuse by calling its name, because you have not named it.

Great tip Dermot, thanks for that.

Here you go. This is a typical project with site statistics. The variables are used in the plan file and in the layout files Garage Oakville.zip

Just adding a bit for the area macros, if you make the label with a global variable in it you can use that variable to do statistics, like for example construction area. %$room1=room.standard_area.to_sq_ft.round(2)% sq ft Now the variable $room1, will have the value of the area of that room. if rooms 1 and 2 are the rooms where construction occurs, and the building permit is based upon room size them construction area will be %$room1+$room2% Just a trivial example I know, but it works wonders for doing lot statistics with building areas, hard and soft landscaping, lot coverage and the like.

Hi Scott, will you be doing the presentation? You do such a great job.

This particular mouse has been tight from time to time. Just sayin

I have a similar problem when dragging something to a new location in a plan file. The mouse will suddenly release the object that I am dragging and then grab something else if the pointer is near some other object. I have changed mice, so that isn't the problem.

Just a guess but if you have the deck DBX in the structure tab and a roof checked, then the deck fence will try to extend itself towards the roof wherever there is a roof overhang over the deck. Uncheck the roof over the deck structural definition, if in fact that is causing the problem.

Is this what you mean?

To all the Ruby wizards out there, if I were to buy a book on programming in Ruby, what book should I start with? I am pretty much into doing site statistics using my own code along with a generous help from Joe Carrick. I am fascinated with just how far I can go into the secrets that makes CA work, and how I can further work on a data collection system that is tailored to what my client audience needs. This includes data on exterior wall areas, ratio of glass to wall area, room sizes that require windows by code, the relationship of the window to the floor area and so on. Any suggestions?

Steve, Wow that is pretty amazing. I suppose you could do the pickets only one molding, and the railing and rim joist as a second molding. That would eliminate the lines in vector view.

Here is the challenge that I have for doing deck railings where the code has proscribed this as one of the designs that a BCIN designer can use. There may be a simple way of doing this, but I have yet to discover it. This is especially true for irregular deck designs with octagon bump outs etc.

Often jogs to this narrow type occur in as built conditions in a renovation. There is no way to design around an existing site condition, especially if the build is adding to the building near to that condition. Another situation is where, because of the requirement for increased insulation in a new addition, you can't match wall thicknesses with existing walls that were built under a now obsolete building code.

This isn't a question, or really anything to do with CA or software, but it is a great tool to explain load bearing walls, drop beams and flush beams to clients. This is a video from the guys at This Old House. I use it to explain how they work to clients.

It seems that the problem that you are seeing can be masked by using a polyline solid, but that is just a chewing gum and bailing wire solution. There would be a weak spot in the roof structure at the root of the valley and this is the result of the geometry of the intersection of the recessed gable wall and the vaulted space. Here are some pictures that demonstrate the problem with the actual design.