dshall

Interesting, the deck does not frame on top of a deck. I said, the smaller deck does not frame on top of the lower deck. To get a deck to frame on top of another deck, I believe you would have to frame the decks, and then select the decks, and then TURN OFF AUTO DECK FRAMING or RETAIN DECK FRAMING, which ever the option is, and then you may get the framing of the upper deck to sit on the lower deck. I do not believe Mick was clear on this. I do not like the Gumpsters option of building deck in a different plan and turning into a symbol, however his suggestion should work..... oh boy..... could be confusing..... no super good method to do this, if it was me, I would build the upper deck separately in same plan, turn off auto deck framing, and then move the upper deck over the lower deck...... not great fool proof method, but maybe the best solution......

Not recommended, I recommend keeping the out buildings in same plan. If I had to guess, Lew will disagree and recommend the symbol method.

Okay, simple example. I get that you east coast guys have basements. Well we have walk out basements. And sometimes we may have a detached garage on the same level as the walk out basement. This means that the walls of the basement are on the same level as the walls of the detached garage (detached garage has a mono slab). If we put the walls of the basement on the same level as the walls of the detached garage (makes sense doesn't it) and if the walls of the basement are on level zero, then the walls of the detached garage are on level zero, how do we put a mono slab below the walls of the detached garage on a level below level zero? There is no level below level zero to put our mono slab on. The above statement leads back to Doug Parks statement that maybe we should have the ability to have multiple levels below level one. I do not disagree with Doug Parks statement. I think us mono slab guys have learned that there is no harm in putting our basements on level one. There is not any limitations to this approach, it simply gives us the ability to use an additional layer (level zero) if we so choose for a mono slab. Joey, does that help you understand our approach?

Very little has changed. What will change when CA gets around to it, will be the ability to use the MMRLS (MULTIPLE MULTIPLE REF LAYER SETS). What I mean by this is..... not only will we have the ability to use MULTIPLE REF LAYER SETS (not doable until X3), but we will have the ability to use the MULTIPLE MULTIPLE REF LAYER SETS which to me means we can send a PLAN VIEW to layout, and that plan view may utilize several ref sets, and each ref set may ref A DIFFERENT LEVEL. If you do not understand the MRLS, the above statement will mean very little to you. But if you do understand the MRLS, you will understand the SUPER POWER of THE MMRLS. Perry spoke of the power of the ref sets, what he did not address is the power of the MMRLS which is taking the MRLS one step further. In several years, this entire topic will be quite elementary. On a side note, the MRLS is very elementary now, and some of us recognize this, but pre X-3, this was new ground breaking stuff. In several years, I predict the MMRLS will be very elementary.

Wow, you win Joey.

What Perry says is so important, and if you do not understand it, I would suggest you learn it. I did a vid set on ref sets explaining Perry's thinking, look for it, it is somewhere, there is some really good stuff there. What Doug says here would be a plus, but not a deal breaker in my opinion. Back to the Perry's ref sets, ref sets are so so valuable, and they can be improved upon if we could include MULTIPLE FLOOR REF SETS WITH REFS FROM MULTIPLE FLOORS for any view sent to layout. I have spoken to Scott Harris about this and I would bet someday in the future the suggestion will be implemented. Scott Harris is all about listening to what we need, he will eventually make it happen. In regards to whether the basement is on level zero or level one, the mono slab guys are thinking ahead and understand why basements on level one is preferable to basements on level zero. Basements can and do work on level zero, but here is the challenge the mono slab guys recognize........ Try to build a basement on level zero, and then try to put a mono slab detached garage on that same level. You guys in the northeast, I bet you can not do it..... but us nit wits who use daylight basements and detached mono slab garages at that particular level, understand why we have found it works better for us to put the basement plans on level 1.... hmmmmmmm....... this might be why Doug Park says we should have unlimited levels below level one......

Jon, sorry about the problems in getting this vid up and running. For some reason I sometimes have issues with uploading the vids. I only had to do this vid 3 times, I spent 45 minutes of my life doing these vids, and I end up with a 3 minute vid..... lucky you, short and sweet. Hopefully this answers your question, if not let me know. http://youtu.be/ScPpdYnrmS0

I think you can. Here is a vid. Too complicated to explain without a vid. http://youtu.be/ScPpdYnrmS0

So was I. I have maybe 25 photos at my immediate disposal, and this was one of them. This photo was taken during my road trip up to PA. back in 1978 when I drove my dorm mate at the University of Houston up to his place in Mechanicsburg PA. Good memories of that trip including the trip to Falling Water, one of my all time favorite homes.

I am very sorry Mss Clifford, I did not mean to be rude and I did not understand you were experienced and had been doing this for awhile. I thought you were inexperienced so I was trying to help out someone I perceived as being relatively new. No problem, I will stay off your threads from now on.

ain't that a pistol, here I am checking out the stairs to the water fall back in 1978.

Open your plan, select exterior wall, open wall definition, do you see a stud framing layer? No. That is the problem. Open interior wall, do you see a layer with stud framing? Yes, that is why you have framing there. Stop screwing around with CA's default walls until you know what you are doing.

You bet P., this is a no-brainer. Ref sets are so so very powerful. Now, to move on, let's talk about using more than one ref sets from more than one floor....... ref sets are very very powerful and with a little nudge from us minions, I have a feeling CA will improve their power.

Preface: I have never looked at CLIENT VIEWER until today. So I am working with a client, teaching him the program as I work on 18 plus of his projects. This guy is very sharp. He wants to be able to send files to his subs so they can view projects on client viewer. So we spend 15 minutes via GTM downloading CLIENT VIEWER and reviewing its capabilities. Somebody at CA Headquarters was really thinking when they came up with this client viewer. This I predict will be the norm in the near future. How powerful is it that you can share your project with your subs & clients in 3D via the client viewer...... oh, and did I mention that when subs can view the project in 3D, their prices come down? Powerful stuff. But here is my beef with the folks at headquarters..... 1. I want my hot keys with client viewer 2. I want to be able to change layer sets 3. I want my framer to be able to put some text on the plan. This way he can make notes...... I think I want this come on guys, I want this framer to quickly go to a layer set that he is interested in, and if I train him correctly, I think he will be using the hot keys, and of course let's make it easy on him, as he is viewing, he can make notes via text. Yeah, this is good stuff, please fix the 3 items I listed and I will be one super duper happy camper. thank you, thank you very much.

Which version are you using?

Incorrect, I was wrong again.....

I would bet it is because it is a BEARING BEAM, and the top of beam is higher than bottom of deck joists...... just guessing

I disagree, X7 has been an excellent release for me. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but a stable release...... I am on a MAC.

Many ways to achieve what Todd wants, but Glenn's solution was the first method that popped up in my mind. I think "3"3 is the break tool hot key, hit the 3 twice and then hit the line you want to break. I use this tool all the time.

A final comment, Joe talks about detailing the footing like this because it saves concrete, I agree, but if we can not model it correctly, the M.L. Is not accurate. CA should be reprogrammed to allow this shape for a mono slab. This is a very subtle design feature. This is nothing new, especially for big home builders who build multiple houses. The savings in concrete can be significant.

Clever Glenn but almost useless. I cut a section thru a house, I have a two story footing on left side , I have a one story footing on right side, hence stem wall heights and footings depths are different, your method does not work. Again, I have been talking about this since mono slabs first came out, and there has been no attempt to program this correctly. I have given up. Maybe at the UGM we can discuss this. I know Scott Harris is very interested in our input.

There are multiple ways to do this. Do a search or wait for the different options. Personally, I would define the deck with an invisible wall and then I would make the railing out of a molding.

Assuming you do not use auto foundations, and I do not..... there is nothing that says foundation need to be on level zero. I did a vid on this so.... listen to this..... if you are not doing auto foundations, (and maybe if you are), there is nothing magic (in my mind) with foundations being on level zero. Try putting the foundation on level 15, or 16 or 17. Who cares, it is not important. What I am saying is, try to learn what is truly important. What Joe and Perry are saying, and I agree with them, have the basements on the first floor and if needed, you can always have a level below on level zero to build a mono slab. You must learn to "own" CA and make it do what you want it to do. I say that you can have your lowest floor on level 17 and then built a foundation on level 16, who cares? It gives you the flexibility to quickly and easily add additional levels. It is akin to my advocation of having more levels than I have floors. If I am building a 3 story house, so what if I have 13 different levels to my model. I can use or not use all 13 levels. Learn to "own" CA and make it work for you.

Okay, how did you do that Glenn? How do you do it without the brick rebate?

Alan, during the next big golf tournament you should invite all the riff raff including me up to your place for the weekend. We could have a lot of fun.... I will bring the ribs for the bbq.