Steve_Nyhof

I am creating a test Bi-Level home to learn about the dropped floor and the stairs. I have some of the things in place and looking good. When I use Auto Stairwell it cuts the floor and puts a railing around it. I just need a hole or jog in the floor to allow space for the stairs from the basement. I have a 1.5" fir wall on the left for the one side and no wall at the moment on the right. I know I seen a video in the past several week on this, but maybe it was Auto Stairwell. Thank you

I found the foundation Height Off Floor was different. I'm including a pdf of my settings for main floor, foyer (lower floor) and the basement Bi-Level - Split Floor within one space.pdf

And right now, even though I am following the same process, I am getting different results. Last basement I drew gave me more options, and now I only have 2. So backing up and trying to get some solid defaults in place and follow my steps and see where I'm doing something different.

I have watched them, and several several times - but as I do things I forget the details. I like to work through things until I find the process, and then documents that process so I can repeat it. But I am continually going back to revisit the videos. This is something that I have not seen covered specifically and I was having a hard time making what I did see apply the same way - but I'm getting it.

I got it! I was trying to put a point to point and manual dimension on the foundation, but when I drag the dim to the right it changes to another point- whatever! I'm trying real hard not to bank my head against a wall.

Ok, so I deleted the foundation, and then deleted the room divider. Then I added the room divider back and the floor values were still in place so accepted that and it made the foundation stem wall height correctly - Now I am adjusting the lower floor height.

That added foundation around my lowered floor - and made extra high walls, maybe using my lower foyer as the main 0 point. I will try some other things and keep this post updated. Thank you

I have messed with this split level floor thing for several hours trying to get my heights correct, and found I can get my floor and ceilings correct, but the foundation wall remains low by 2-5/8" (2.625). I am only guessing, but I set up my defaults to use i-joist at 11-7/8" - I drew several test homes with these settings in place and all worked to the right heights. so I decided to learn about split levels - small Bilevel homes that I draw often here in West Mi on 6" wide by 3'6" high foundation walls - with sill plate, 3'7-1/2". I used the hidden wall per some videos I watched and all seems fine after I adjust my floor joist and heights. - note that the bottom entry floor is 2x8 joist. (I also tested with 2x10, but that did not help and fix the foundation height issue. Side note - for the past 50+ years, the conc floors in MI are poured 1-1/2" over the footings, with the remain 2-1/2" below the top of the footing. In Chief this is not possible so I made my floor 1.5 and will deal with my sections later. The reason is because the 1-1/2" sill plate offsets the 1-1/2" over the footing leaving an 8'0" rough ceiling. Please don't tell me about it's issues or that it is wrong as methods of building are different all over the world - Thank you! So back to line 1. - Question: Is there something left over in the "global" values from the default 11-7/8" joist, now being changed to 9-1/4" lumber, leaving a 2-5/8" discrepancy in the foundation wall? Where is this 2-5/8" coming from? Note, I am able to go around the foundation and lift the top of the foundation wall into the right position, but that seems like the wrong way to fix this. I will upload my plan for anyone wanting to look into this. Thank you SND_D_Residential Template.zip

I set the main floor to Default to bottom and it seems to work - So maybe when it is over daylight and walkout wall with the same material as the first floor, you need to default to bottom so it is not overlapping like it does on a foundation wall.

It did show up for this view, and now that it is lined up, the icon is no longer there - so it must be lined up. Maybe I just need to start again as I mess with things that could be causing this.

Very good - I will check that

I'm thinking it may be a foundation thing. Typically when siding is applied, it is put on an inch or so over the foundation wall. When I check the floors between the top of the first and the bottom of the second, they line up, and there is no visible line on the hatch pattern.

Yes it is

I will look at it. I am setting up Chief so working on getting all my walls and heights set as defaults so it is not much of a plan. So you are saying that it should not be overhanging that that?

Ok, so I see that the siding does overlap the floor joist and sill plate by 1.5" - so that seems to be the interference. Thoughts?

So along these same lines, I have this all figured out, my heights are perfect for walkout and daylight. However, on my elevation view, there is a line where the First floor siding is overlapping the lower wall siding. Do I have some height issue? The 3D looks perfectly

So I found I needed to make a pony wall if I was going to put windows and doors in the wall on the Lower level. Then breaking things and dragging down worked great.

I pulled the daylight walls down without an issue. I broke the wall where I wanted and in 3D pulled the wall down. good Then I pulled the frost wall down on the side (walkout area) and that worked fine. good But when I pull the top down (1) to the top of my conc floor (walkout), it also pulls down, (2) and (3). Is there a way to lock a part of the wall so it is unaffected? Thank you

This is a bit of a bias community - LOL - but I am very excited to be learning Chief. I think I spent so much time (years of programming) and money on ADT that it was my investments that I felt obligated to. Three weeks ago I deleted the demo I was testing and told the sales guy I wasn't interested. He replied with something that made me want to at least spend an hour with him on a demo. So I downloaded it again, and things like hotkeys would not save in the demo so I purchased Chief a few days before my demo meeting. I have been having so much fun setting things up and testing everything that I am truly hooked and wish I checked it out years ago.

This is excellent! Thank you!

This is a great tip! I'm going to give it a try - thank you!

I knew it worked this way but it is exciting to see it all happen by my hand . Thank you for the encouragement

Thank you! I was a big space bar user also and miss the single keys, but I have to admit that as I work and set up my defaults and draw a test plan at the same time, I am assigning hotkeys and I am beginning to enjoy the flow. From what I have drawn and and fine tuned to produce what I want, I am feeling overjoyed with Chief and how it will produce documents in what I believe will be faster than in AutoCAD. I could produce a simple 1500 sq.ft. home in maybe 4 to 6 hours - Done! So I will be using that reference to see how Chief performs with how I am getting things in place. Mind you that while I place some furniture for the client to see in 2D, I am now looking forward to showing them a realistic model. I have accepted most of the Chief defaults in many areas, and so my plans will look different than before, but I am very happy with what will be produced.

I will add, that the tip above that I added is very cool and a quick way to change the selection of objects. It's a tip to use with a hotkey instead of finding the tool icon!

I'm sorry you have a specific perspective on the world by which you expect others to operate within. Us low-life AutoCAD users bow in awe of your "Chiefly" presence! I just purchased Chief less than 2 weeks ago and have been really impressed with how it works. Yes, I have run into things that I find do not work for me. One big part is the use of AutoLISP, where I spent years learning and programming ADT to work just the way I wanted. This is a huge investment (years of my life) to let go of. One can only wonder why such a great software like Chief would not offer a programming language, and yet the more I learn the more I realize I do not need it. You may consider backing off a bit on the AutoCAD thing. There is a lot that makes up a life, and I am sure a lot that makes up your life, of which I can appreciate and applaud your accomplishments - I'm sure they are many. But try not to lose sight on others who also have spent their livelihood learning and growing in ways that others would also appreciate and applaud. Im sure you have a lot to offer here in this forum and so I look forward to learning from you!