JKEdmo

Thanks for the other option. Yes, I used room dividers. Still trying to understand how Chief does horizontal section (i.e. plan) display/view ranges. From what I can tell it's mainly hard-wired and does not allow user override and sometimes you just need to know the best technique for what you want to show. Jim

Joe, thanks for quick reply. Will do. Just to clarify, Chief will not represent step down in plan view on its own and CAD line needs to be added? Seems a bit strange but now that I know I can live with. Agree it's an "ankle buster", but it's an existing house I'm drawing up. Jim

Good morning, Quick question - I have a 6" sunken living room. I've managed to model it with the step down: . But, shouldn't Chief show the step(s) down in plan view? Do I have a certain layer turned off or should I just draw CAD lines to represent? Thanks again, Jim

Gene, Thanks for the info. Can you quantify the cost difference? I do a lot of additions to older houses where ceiling height is critical and therefore often call out shallow joist size. Actually, I guess I could take a look at Menard's website to get an idea... (Also, I found your input re. room plate height based on drywall sheet size to be good info. too!) Jim

Got it. Thanks for clarifying! Jim

This edit tool is available for a Cad box in plan view, but I'm in a CAD detail view and it does not appear for me... Unsure why. Jim

Getting into using the detailing tools and digging it. Quick questions - possible to convert / explode cad box to polyline? (I believe the answer is no) I read a past post that you can convert the cad box to a 3D solid and then to polyline. But, I can't figure out where the convert to 3D solid tool is when I select the cad box. Thanks once again, Jim

Thanks for looking into this. Jim

Thanks for this tip. I had a similar cricket problem last week and this is helpful. Jim

I'll report this and see what Chief says. Certainly a "small potatoes" item. Jim

Yes, I'm sure too! Thanks for the tip! Jim

Not sure if this is correct behavior or a minor glitch that I could report. I typed in "+/-" as part of a schedule note without any spaces. I noticed paragraph word wrap does not work with this letter combo and push it to the line below. See screen shot with highlight below. I would have expected any letter combo without spaces would be treated as a "word", but maybe punctuation or special character combos are different. Any thoughts? Thanks again, Jim

I typically do not include window and door rough opening dimensions and leave it up to the builder / framer to figure it out. I do this to avoid issues just like the one you described. It's just too easy to make an error and besides, they should be expected to do the calculations. This is not exactly the answer to your question, but it's food for thought for your future projects. Jim

I seem to remember 8" treads / 9" risers being allowable in California up until the 90s? Seems like a distant memory...

Yes, I think your code interpretation is correct. I missed that. Good to know. Thanks! Thanks for your realistic "in the field" input! I will revisit this. You've all convinced me to add a tread. Jim

Good morning, Maybe more of a question directed to builders / framers, but would you have any buildability concerns about a wood framed stair designed w/ maximum allowable riser height? To explain, I designed my stairs on a project with maximum allowable 7-3/4" riser height (California). Code does permit a 3/8" tolerance between min./max. risers. Normally, I'd design in some tolerance wiggle room on my floor-to-floor height, but overlooked this and I'd prefer just to leave as designed as I'm pretty far along. Thoughts? Thanks again, Jim

Thanks Glenn for your help. Jim

Thanks Ryan for your tips. Jim

I've been an Epson guy, but for my next printer, I will definitely check out Brother based on comments. Jim

Good morning -- Thank you for your replies. Ryan, Chief has a tutorial video that suggests this method. The fireplace I'm modeling is monolithic masonry, so I thought a 3D solid would be a good way of doing it. Should I just model with 8" masonry walls? How do people usually model solid masonry chimneys? Glenn, not sure if I fully understand, but to clarify I did not place a door opening. Instead, I broke the wall where the chimney / fireplace occurs. This is to reflect the as-built condition of this midcentury house: Thanks again for looking at this. Jim

Hello, I have an exterior siding wall: I split it into two halves and made the upper segment invisible: Question - is there a way to prevent the wall layers from wrapping the end of the visible segment? (I tried the Edit Wall Layer Extents tool but with no success...) Basically, I want to get rid of that siding wrap between the visible wall and a 3D solid I have defined for a fireplace shown below: Thanks again, Jim

I have an all-in-one Epson WorkForce WF-7710 and have been pretty happy with it. The printer I had before this was also a WorkForce, but an older model. The thing about this Epson model is it can print one paper size larger than 11x17 ledger, i.e. 13x19 "Super B." The benefit is it allows me to print my usual 24"x36" sheet size at true 50% scale if needed. So, my usual 1/4" architectural plans at 1/8" = 1'-0" scale. Ledger size does not work for this. The printer has been reliable. It accepts 3rd party ink, although you'll get a "are you sure you want to do this" warning from the software... It can scan up to 11x17 ledger size. I use the scanner a fair bit. I feel the Epson (PC) software is fairly outdated and somewhat clunky, but it's functional. I just looked at the Epson website and they have them on sale at discount. You might take a look. I think I bought mine as a refurbished item from Epson if I recall. Jim

My personal opinion is time is expensive and paper is cheap. So, I'd would set up all deliverables as one sheet size / 24" x36". If you'd still like to send out a smaller paper format for schematics, one option would be to print 50% / half size on 13"x19" Super B format, which I do from time to time. I use an Epson Workforce inkjet that can handle this paper size. Output would be 1/8" = 1'-0" and scalable. Jim

I see you can already add a box / border to a text object under "attributes." Maybe they could handle your request as a variant of that text setting? Jim

Thanks again for your input and help. Jim