Doug_N

That is pretty much what I do, but I include an elevation with the area boundary shown so that the plans examiner knows how I got to the calculations that I am using. I have been trying to get the macro for the window area to work like you are showing in your second pic showing the area circled in blue.

Joe, Column 1 is used to determine which row is being used. So if the wall is 26m^2 then you have to use row for 30m^2. Note that the total area of a window in a window well is NOT used. Only the area above the grade is included. In Canada only metric units are used for building code. There are no Imperial values used. So many drawings are done in metric units. That being said, most plan examiners still accept imperial drawings so long as rounding is done according to the 4/5 rule. 0.4 is rounded down, 0.5 is rounded up for example. For metres, usually, things are rounded to 2 decimal places, and for mm, no decimal places.

The exposed area is taken from the elevation of the wall, so when the wall has a hip roof the wall ends at the eave. Where the ceiling is lower than the eave, then the exposed part of the wall ends where the ceiling would stop the flame spread. I think this is just a bit arbitrary, but welcome to the world of building code and drawing examinations.

Yes 9.10.15 is exactly what I am talking about. Whenever a new window is added to a building the designer must create an elevation of that wall along with the area of the wall between the eaves or the uppermost ceiling (if that is lower than the eaves) and the surface of the finished grade. Then you must show on the elevation a calculation of the gross wall area and the window area as a percentage of the gross wall area. For the distance from the wall to the property line, there are limits as t0 the amount of window area allowed. Less than 1.2m no windows are allowed. See the table included.

Joe, does this system have a name. What do you charge for it? Can I use it on walls and windows?

Doors are not considered unprotected openings unless they have a window in them. The unprotected opening rule is for radiation through glass I think.

Hi Joe, Gosh my apologies, I didn't see your message. Yes I am still interested! my email is info@measurite.ca

Joe, I am getting very excited about this! My only question is when? I have to do this on every darn project I do, the room area glass thing. The other thing is the unprotected wall openings in exterior walls that have a limiting distance. The code requires the designer to calculate the percentage of the sum of window opening area as a percentage of the wall above the grade and below the eaves. If the wall is less than 4' from the property line then no unprotected (window) openings are allowed. At 4' you may have about 7% unprotected opening, and that percentage goes up and the distance from the wall to the property line increases. In general, you make the calculation based on a percentage from a table in the codebook.

And yet another solution. Untitled_1.zip

LOL that wasn't my request!!! I know how to do this without using a cheque.

Gif files can as well.

This is weird, but in this section view, the brick seems to be on the wrong side of the wall. Here is a vector view and here is a standard view This just seem strange

Here is the best excuse for not paying me for services provided. The client can't pay me because he has bills to pay.

All they care about is do you have a permit yet.

Such is the life of a building designer. No one cares if you have a life or not.

I am planning a vacation and will be out of touch, both by internet and by cell for a few days at a time, and would like to work on various projects. Tethering by cell phone is how I will forward work in progress to clients, but, well you know what I am saying.

This brings up an interesting question. Can you go offline for a significant length of time and still have CA working?

I have discovered via tech support that if you check the "wall extends below floor" the area below the floor also disappears. Mystery resolved.

OK this may be an interrupt problem. Do you have a graphic pad? Something is interfering with the stream of data from the mouse. Try uninstalling all interface drivers, reboot your computer and let the system reinstall all drivers.

This may be a mouse surface detection problem. Are you using a mouse pad or the surface of your desk? Sometimes different surfaces can drive a mouse to skip some areas. This will result in really erratic behaviour. Just a suggestion.

I have submitted this to tech support but thought the rest of you may be interested in this situation. When turning a wall invisible, only the portion of the wall above the default floor elevation becomes invisible. Any portion of the wall below the default floor level remains visible. It would seem that this is not how previous versions behaved, as illustrated in a training video for version X9 https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/323/creating-a-split-entry.html here is what it looks like in ver X9 Here are the results that I have observed in X11 For those of you that are interested in the project file, I have included it as submitted to tech support. Split Entry.zip

In the pictorial view, we are looking to the southeast. I suppose I could do this in two plans and then superimpose the existing grade in one plan over the historical grade in another plan. The top of the retaining wall would be a constant height over the existing grade while the bottom of the retaining wall followed the historical grade. so the top stays level, and the bottom is curved following the historical grade. The trick is, how to construct and model that wall. At its maximum height, it would be about 3' tall and at its shallowest height, about 1' tall. So how to model that changing wall height.

Joe, your plan sounds very interesting. Foundation => Level 0 => Ref Saved Foundation Basement => Level 1 => Ref Saved Basement First Floor => Level 2 => Ref Saved First Floor Is this it, the named views?

I have a very interesting challenge ahead of me. I am modelling a retaining wall that will have as its base a historical elevation of a paved walkway. The existing grade, a parking lot at the edge of a harbour, is gently sloping in two directions, a crown, running east and west, down the center of the parking lot and a slope that starts at the west along and north and south line that goes towards the east. There is also an east west line at the northern boundary that defines the edge of the parking lot and then sharply drops (at about a 26 degree slope) into the harbour. The length of the lot east to west is about 782' long. The historical grade had a saddleback droop at around the 400' mark about 24" deep. That saddle back is the base for the retaining wall that will run along the edge of the parking lot. Here is the question. How can I model two terrain surfaces at the same time? One that shows the existing grade and one that shows the historical grade?

Mike, your post is ambiguous because it is not clear if you are looking for help, or are offering to help others.