Doug_N

CA should hire you as a consultant Michael!

Here is a way to do a slab on grade, with a reasonable cross section, using only elevation date lines and a driveway. Garage.plan

If you are looking for a contractor, then this is most likely the wrong place. Perhaps try kijiji?

You can use it, for example, to create really powerful cad details of construction details that would not normally be generated by auto framing. Things like flashing around a rain screen layer, or an insulation baffle near the eave of a roof section, or flashing at the bottom course of a brick veneer wall. The list is endless. Unlike blocks, cad details can be edited without unblocking.

The whole building department is shut down. Toronto is not accepting any new applications, no further work on existing applications and no inspections.

Ain't that the truth! lol

You know there are advantages to having a robust building code and code enforcement. For example, prior to 2012 a building owner could walk into a building department with some vague sketches and get a permit. Now all drawings have to be technically correct, to scale and contain references to code compliance. To do work for others a designer must be qualified and pass a legal exam, and a technical building code exam. The building departments recommend homeowners seek out someone like me to do the work.

So I can only speak about my experience with external stairs to the grade from the basement. 1) The walls to each side of the stars are retaining walls and may need to be designed by a structural engineer 2) The path from the top of the stairs to the front of the property may be constrained by zoning to ensure a suitable path exists if this is for an apartment. Most municipalities in my area require 4' of unobstructed path to the lot line on one side of the dwelling. 3) Set back rules have to be considered to see if this can be done in the desired location. 4) Some means of draining water from the lower landing will have to be designed. In my area, you need a sump pump that discharges the wastewater somewhere on the property, like a dry well. We are not allowed to connect it to the sanitary system or storm drain system. 5) The garage exit will remove a parking space. Make sure that this will not contravene any bylaws. 6) The exit path through the garage may not be allowed if the authorities see this as a safety hazard. 7) Depending on frost penetration of the soil either underpinning of the footings near the walkout will be required, or rigid insulation to protect the footings near the walkout will have to be designed and installed. While this is a costly way to provide access, it is sometimes well worth the effort. Again I can only report the experience of my projects, but this type of access is going to cost in the 15k to 30k range.

ok that symbol is for building the terrain. It means that a build is pending. you have automatic terrain build turned off. There is no terrain definition in the plan that you posted, so I am guessing that the terrain had not been created at the time that you saved the plan. First define the terrain perimeter, and then click on Terrain/Terrain Specifications Turn on

I have allowed for editing in home designer in this version if that helps. Attic Walls.zip

Which symbols? Please upload the plan file.

Robert, I agree with you 100% and was not attacking your solution. I am sorry if it seemed that way. Perhaps I should be more careful in what I am saying when I point out a weakness in the modelling capability of CA. I understand what you were saying and the problem that you were addressing. I guess what I am saying is that for every good deed there is a complimentary punishment.

Maybe not, but I certainly see your point and what you are trying to achieve. Have you posted this in the suggestions section? The stair tool has seen some great enhancements this revision, and how to treat the top of the stair connection, riser offset etc would be great enhancements.

OK so here is the problem that I can see using the 1" invisible wall. It disconnects the railing so a transition is lost. Maybe someone can see a way around this? The railing above on the left has an invisible wall, the one on the right does not. Here is a better view from the other side.

You are right. I just used that as an example of the railing problem. Maybe with the wall it will work. I hope to try it out when I get a chance. Trying to finish a project right now.

Maybe I did miss the point. Does that solve the railing problem? I will have to try that out.

That is exactly what I was expecting actually. That was my comment about moving the stairs away from the landing to allow for materials on the final riser. It solves a problem but creates others. It is not a viable solution. Just saying.

If you manually move the stairs back, sometimes the railing regenerates across the stairs, AND the handrail will not connect (continuous handrail required by code).

Your problems with the attic walls were related to the roof plans. Most of the planes were cutting into the walls preventing them from generating attic walls. Attic Walls.zip

Chief Architect has a neat cad tool to create a building footprint as a cad detail. You can copy the footprint detail and display the area of the footprint in the polyline label. Open the dbx for the object and on the label tab insert the macro area.

I have the same problem, so I have to click on my desktop, the cursor comes back and is usable in CA until I do something that makes it disappear. Usually, this happens when I update layout views.

Thanks

How to create an upload file without the problem of closing the file first. https://1drv.ms/v/s!Am8Ktm_KVQE5golbHGG1VB1Uw8Bxzg

The best way to create a file that can be uploaded directly is to use the backup utility built into Chief Architect. Test File for Upload.zip