Kbird1

If you don't need to be too accurate ? and it's more for the visuals . you can use the Floor Truss Tool..... here the floor structure is 27 " --- 24" truss + 3" lightweight concrete --- truss is set with webbing at 1 inch and the webbing thickness at 1" as well..... it is all square stock but if not zoomed in in the view, it is hard to tell...

Any Model with a large polygon count will slow Chief down , many Sketchup Models appear to be done by Students learning Sketchup so the polygon count , especially on curved objects can be really high , I have seen other reports of simple items like an oval sink , vs a rectangular one causing slow downs when used in multiple bathrooms. I have not seen anyone with a 3GB File before.... I am not sure anyone at CA has either ... wow

Not available in Chief AFAIK but there are a few on the 3D Warehouse you could import perhaps? but it would be pretty time consuming I'd think to do a whole project, might be easier to just make the material for the Chief Floor Truss 1" and Metal to get an auto-generated approximation... https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/f3b4a3d67d9e47f4bd0453f33162bdd5/Steel-Bar-Joist

Hi Gene , why not just step the foundation wall rather than use Pony Walls ? maybe more manual work I suppose but it didn't take me too long to try your Model. here is my Play Plan, so you can check settings.... Garage in Bank Plan.plan

the screen pics above are done with Windows Snipping Tool , in Accessories ,save the Capture to your desktop and then drag the file into the bottom of the reply window (light grey area) , just add any number to each successive capture to save it, and delete them off the desktop when you are done with it. Before you save you can use the inbuilt pen tool to draw arrows etc like i did above. With Aligning you can go around and around unless you do it in the right sequence . start on whichever floor is correctly sized/located ,usually floor 1 , check the basement wall is good , then floor 2 over 2 and then 3 over 2 and then Attic over 3 ...that usually does it.

Looks like you have got it sorted out , at least from a quick look around the latest plan.... I'd consider making your stairs wider , you will need to move furniture up there at some point and 39 inch stairs with a 90 deg. turn could make it difficult , they are even narrower when you add the code required grip rail top to bottom , if you go say 44" at least then you'll have 40 plus inches of Clear room. and at least here you would not be allowed a Door directly at the top of the stairs , so you may need a 3 deep alcove /landing their. When doint bathroom think about how the plumber is going to get the Water in and out , and that toilet pipes will likely need a 2x6 wall to accommodate them so try and line walls up floor to floor, otherwise you will cost yourself extra money, ie make the new bathroom slight bigger so the door wall aligns with the bathroom wall below. Looks like you are doing pretty well have fun with it... M.

I think you might be taking my suggestion to rename files a bit to far ....that's half the alphabet.... the files you are posting are not necessarily the last file you worked on , as you can see from their name, they are the Program's Autosave files which may have been an hour ago or ??? more ago (depends on the setting in preferences you use?) . To post the .plan file you will need to zip it as you have done so much work on it and the direct post limit is 25mb . The plan is slow even on my computer as you have done so much decorating . Just save the Plan and then close it , (make sure the Plan is closed in Pro, Pro can be Open) and then you can Zip the .plan file you last worked on. You will get an empty zipfile if you try zipping the plan while it is open ,either that or it won't zip as Pro will lock other Programs out from accessing it while it is Open) It would help to use the Text tool with Arrow and leave notes , perhaps in RED text , so whoever is helping you can find the issues you mentioned. ie the misaligned back wall , near the Pool... I found 1....The upper wall of the T Shape main house is misaligned , (see pic) ....align the 2nd floor to the 1st , go up to the Attic Level and then align it again with the Wall below... think I found it on your new plan...short wall to the right of my red arrow .....just do as I said above.... the wall with arrow is still misaligned on the attic level on the new plan too. when you Align the short wall you will also need to fix the Roof plan as you moved the wall over .... you also have a floating window above your new 3rd floor bathroom...

Did you ask Jo-Ann on Hometalk to look at your Plan? she is very good with work arounds and has been on HomeTalk for many years , I used Pro for a number of years before upgrading so know the Forum well. I think you are going to have to do stuff manually now as I see you have done Manual roof edits etc. By turning on your reference layer (F9) you can draw your own foundation walls in under the Garages and pool room by drawing new foundations walls over the red reference walls. You may need to do the same upstairs by adding a BLANK 3rd floor of 0" height and then drawing the rooms with new walls , again with the Reference view on ( red lines of what's below). I did notice that a few of the 2 storey walls were not aligned with the 1st floor walls ( look for icon on the edit toolbar with wall selected) and that the LH end of the main house does not have the wall tagged as a gable but Auto Build Roofs is off so that doesn't effect you I think. I haven't look at the new plan yet.,,,,

don't let them scare you away Wendy , I for one was glad to see you back here this week.... I really enjoyed your Video Tips last year, I was hoping you might do more...

is it not normal where you guys are to have the plywood/OSB flush to the foundation? we set a 1x2 into the concrete at top of Conc. line so the plywood can hang down over the bottom plate / concrete connection.

The full version is now $2700...but perhaps CA Interiors would be sufficient for you ? it is $2000 but you sound like a good candidate for the Rental Option as Lew said , if you pay 16mths in a row the software license is yours. Of course that is at a Premium of $500... ($3200 vs 2700) . The Rental option does allow full SSA , so you can use any of the Libraries free then... SSA is now about $500 a year subscription too , but includes new versions of the program when released if your SSA is Current. Try leaving Chief Running (minimised) and only let your laptop sleep or hibernate , so you can work on a design for a few days without losing all your Work.

your plan is fine here , it did ask me to replace a Font when I open it though (Blueprintdbt which i dont have I guess).. I choose Chief Blueprint and all labels are accessible.... --- tried it again without Font replacement and still no issue accessing the label tab. Might be one for Tech Support come tues. Morning...

You've done alot of work...which will make this tougher...much easier to build the Structure and then do the "Design Work". As you can see you don't have Foundations on you Garages or the Pool house , so you may need to draw those manually as autobuilding the foundation now may cause you to lose the foundation on the house..... and all the work inside it.... It would be best to fill in your Signature too ( see mine for how) as different methods my apply depending on which version you are using, and as many of us are using X9 , if you are not you won't be about to open/use a plan posted by any of us I'll check in tomorrow too... night.

open a new plan and follow the tutorial and once you have it down pat , then try it on your Main Plan .... or do a Save As to the plan and change the name to XXX_rooftest and play on that plan till you get it right , then move back to the original file and implement the new Roof there... always good to have a back up and save your plan often , incase something goes wrong or CA crashes.

Lots of good info in the Knowledgebase (KB) ..it's not as difficult as it sounds , have a look at this Tut. ..the 24" in the Tut. is whatever height your knee walls are , if no knee walls then use 1 1/2" as suggested to get Roof to sit on Floor of the Attic. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00772/building-a-cape-cod-roof-by-adjusting-ceiling-heights.html or this one if this is your situation https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00653/building-a-cape-cod-roof-that-bears-on-the-1st-floor-walls.html

perhaps copy and paste this over in the Suggestion Forum so people can + 1 it....

Here is a post from a few years ago about this and some example plans ...not sure if much has changed since then ? Open the plan in the thread to read the "How to"

you made the zip file while the Plan was open in Chief....if you do that it won't zip since Chief has the File locked and you get a 0KB sized plan and zipfile....and you don't get any warning it failed. M.

Eric maybe right , you may need to choose the right Template , eg Cottage or Default or Urban Chic as I think Todays' Traditional and Colonial come with the Moldings. Hopefully you don't need to start again with the correct Template to get rid of it ....

Some lights have Auto intensity Options IIRC and auto attenuate? , but you are right it is weird sometimes a rebuild of a 3D view for some other reason suddenly has all the lights Off or On .... sometimes closing a view and redoing the Camera I finds turns them back on . You can always turn on the Light Indicator for Camera Views so you at least know which ones may effect RT's. M.

Hi Glenn , you are right the Soffit always builds to the Main layer ...ie the Framing , so you are saying the Main Layer should be set to the Plywood? At least in this part of the World where all house are Clad in Plywood (or OSB) , I guess I could make the Plywood the Main Layer, but that somehow seems wrong... Still not sure why we get no soffit backing / framing though? I could not stop the Siding at the Soffit and there still appears to be Drywall? on the Attic side of the Energy Heel , so perhaps I have a setting in my template plan messing something up , if that doesn't happen to others? And back on Topic I found that the 15" Limit mentioned above needs to be higher by the Vertical distance of the drop needed for a "Reduced Gable end" Truss, lets say 1 3/4" to get an energy Heel truss to build as an End Truss/Reduced Gable Truss too. The weird thing I also noticed was that the Top Cord of the End Truss was actually cut down to 4" rather than the whole Top Chord being dropped by the 1 1/2" needed to put out "Outlooks" as CA calls them.

Hi , I wasn't saying at all you are wrong......there are issues......I just put 10" in as I knew it would/should work. There is a magic hardcoded Number it seems and the magic number, at least at 8/12 pitch is a Total Height at the Wall Framing line of any number more than 15" ( not 15...more than 15) eg 15" 1/18 , from Top of Top plate to Top Edge of the Rafter ( or top chord) , that will get you a Energy Heel Truss , 15" and below will not , it will generate a Cantilevered truss. The VRD (Vertical Rafter Depth ) must be subtracted from 15 1/8" to give you the measurement to put into the Birdsmouth>Raise Off Plate Height, (CA Method) so at 8/12 a 2x6's VRD is 6 5/8" , so that number to get and Energy Heel Truss is 8 1/2" ( try 8 3/8 = no Energy heel.) ( it seems to work the same if you set both Birdsmouth measurements to 0" and use the Roof Height > Raise/Lower Setting --- GlennW's way.) I don't claim any credit for this Information , it was discussed about 2 years ago according to the PDFs I made in 2015 (attached) and Came from Curt (CJ) and GlennW, from a Thread back then, Curt created a Cheat Sheet for the VRD's at different Pitches, and I use it when needed, I am not sure if the 15" is at all Roof Pitches , (have not tested personally) or has something to do with the % you mention, as I remember several discussions on this over the last 5 years or so.... Perhaps Glenn or Curt will see this thread and explain it better than me... ***edit , I tried 5/12 in my test plan and it is 15+ inches there too to get a EH Truss. ( using Curt's cheat sheet again) I am still not sure why after so long Chief still does not Auto Frame the Soffit properly with a Ledger and blocking , ( whats holding the Soffit up? ) or why the plywood doesn't continue to the top of the wall , or why the Siding goes right through the Soffit to the top of the top plate.... or why we sometimes get Drywall in the attic etc Curt's Energy Heel Info.pdf Helping to Understand Heel Heights in Chief Architect.pdf Roof Pitch Degrees Reference.pdf Trusses - with Energy Heel .pdf

Thanks Michael phew...you got it in 1 think I unchecked it after watching Scott's 20 minute DSH Workshop video...I wouldn't have figured that one out.... Weirdly the End truss is generating differently from the Rest...( white) with no energy heel ( it is checked) while the rest do have an energy heel after all (black) ...I only noticed this as I did a Full Framing overview..... In the above pic I had used Cross Section View instead of Back Clipped Cross Section in Error so it was showing the end truss at the very end too , so I thought the E.H. Trusses weren't building....been a while since I played with this so perhaps the issue I am seeing is just mine? Not sure Why CA insists on building that small wall between E.H. Trusses either... (Blue) 2x10 vertically Blocking perhaps ...or are some areas actually made to do this?

I was just playing with this as I usually do it like Jared suggested only we don't usually need 2x6 Top Chords here and it's usually ok but I do remember some kind of Bug as you describe Michael in the past relating to the total height over the Wall plate....not sure you can find old threads about it or not? At least so far with a 2x6 top and bottom Chord my Energy Heel won't build... And for some reason my Trusses only show in cross section this morning if I turn colour on ??? must have clicked something I shouldn't have

I think what 7654321 is referring to is the fact that you don't want to see ICF Foam above Ground level , so change the ICF Wall type to ICF-Masonry or Siding in those areas or adjust the Wall definition to whatever the Final Wall finish is ..perhaps Stucco ? (plaster). He was not saying it would fix your gap issue... M.