GeneDavis

A trial version of Chief Premiere X12 is available for download right now. Get it. Chief has a "post" tool that with one mouse click places a post with pier. It is typically used for modeling 4x4 timber posts and for lally columns, but for your application, one would just set up the post as solid concrete and 16x16 in size, and the pier pad under as 12" thick and 30" square. You can readily edit the post to whatever height you need. As for modeling the post part in CMU so you get the 3D, there are ways to do it, but not so automatic as doing it with the post tool. I am presuming your "post" has the CMU cores filled solid, so in effect, you have a solid concrete member. Just do callouts and CAD details to show what's to be done on the con docs.

Let's get the fingerprints from the spray can.

You should post the plan.

That's my primary use. Painting trim. Also painting solids and slabs, unless the slabs are real concrete and I want them in material list.

Is this a remodel and you are beginning with an as-built? Or is it all-new and we can redesign?

OK I opened it and you have a tee-roof and need to learn about truss bases. No dormer in sight. Search the archives here and go to the Chief site for training videos and learn about truss bases.

Did you try exploding all so the roof hole can be selected and deleted?

False dormer no roof hole under it? Didn't open your file.

If we shouldn't paint walls with it, how is it best used to avoid problems?

Main floor is 1, walkout is 0. Floor 0 walls will be pony walls framed wall up, foundation wall down. The frostwalls and foundation stepdowns will be edited manually by you. There are Chief training videos that give you the how-to.

Post the plan, please. Close the file. Zip it. Attach the zipped copy. And if your sig (can't see it on my mobile) doesn't show your Chief version and system specs, fix that, too.

Snip it just inside the border, with a screencap tool, so the image is clean.

Do same in each "room?" Did you try?

In Colorado, along the front range from Colorado Springs all the way up to the Wyoming border, the soils are not stable, and a well-built house has its footings bearing on pilings that go to bedrock. Little screw pilings, but they do the job. The basements get what is called a "structural floor," exactly as this is being discussed here. A 60-mil membrane, think "Stego," some airspace, and a framed floor, with any required beams being steel and intermediate bearing points for the beams being piling-supported. Houses there, if built with the basement being slab on grade, have a wall base detail that permits the bottom plate to move as much as 2.5 inches up or down, which the bentonite soils can do.

This one is pretty new, uses X12, and is by Chief Architect. You won't really be drawing exteriors per se. You will be creating a 3D house by first drawing its first floor walls, defining all the rooms, and adding windows and doors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1noFJ4vycmw&loop=0 Having then done this much, you have created all of the interior spaces. But before you begin, you'll need to set your defaults for walls, rooms, floors, windows, doors, and more.

More info needed. Got a section detail? And describe "pwf."

I'd like to talk you out of it, but . . .

Look in Suggestions for my spiral stairs thing, and feel free to list out EVERYTHING you want in spiral stairs. Spell out for the Chief developers EXACTLY what you expect in a spec dialog for spiral staircase. And if it's something other than a center-pole one, spell out what it is.

See if this helps. Do a SPV called ceiling framing and do the defaults and layersets needed.

Revit sure costs a lot.

The exterior color sets are in the brochure that is downloaded from this page. https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/project-ideas-inspiration/exteriors/home-exterior-ideas-inspiration

Client wants exterior views showing about a dozen different color schemes for the siding and trim. He'll go with Benjamin Moore and the source is their excellent site which shows pro-chosen mixes for main body, accent, and trim. We've got clapboard, siding trim, window and door trim, board and batten gables (material region 3d battens, soffit, fascia, and a porch ceiling. Using the B-M pages with Chief's eyedropper to make colors is easy. New .plan file for each new scheme?

Thanks, Mark. I did that, but to make the .pdf searchable on my iPhone I need to open the manual in the iBooks app. But it works great. A good case for getting an iPad Pro, with the big screen.

My ears perked up when purlins got mentioned. Does this mean we can have multiple framing layers in walls, the most obvious use being battens for rainscreen siding details?

Take a look at your layers, focusing on all the layers that itemize objects: walls, roof planes, footings, framing, cabinets, fixtures, all those objects that can be counted and included in a material list. Example: windows. Copy that layer and rename it Windows - asbuilt. Turn off the M for this layer. Now do this for everything. And then, reassign everything in your model that is asbuilt to these layers.