DavidJPotter

I do this kind of work currently for firms in Austin, Plano, Dallas and Savannah, GA with great success. The key is good clear, detailed information, dimensions and client desires to make such an arrangement pleasant for us both. I have been doing remodeling work plans since I started using Chief in 1995 (Version 4). DJP

Where in "Central Texas" are you? I can help you as I already do many others locally and elsewhere. DJP

There are several ways to accomplish this result. One is to use a glass shower wall for the glass wall portion, that makes it easy to then add a glass shower door. For the pony-wall portion, you can emulate that with a custom slab or slabs and just envelope the left-hand portion of the glass shower wall (the lower custom slab to emulate the pony-wall and a second one to emulate the pony-wall cap. You adjust the glass wall top in an elevation camera to the exact height you wish the glass to be. DJP

Yes, I saw nothing unusual in your plan before or after. DJP

No unusual behavior observed in your plan on my PC. DJP

Anyone who would help you needs to know what version of Home Designer Essentials software you use to make sure that when done, you can still open and edit your own .plan file. If all you need is a roof design finished, I can do that in an hour or less. I charge $75.00 per hour US. Let me know what you decide to do please. DJP

You ought to plan on Home Designer Pro, it is more expensive than Architectural but it is light-years ahead in terms of ability and choices available compared to Home Designer Architectural. I do this kind of work for people like you all the time. Please visit my website for examples and testimonials. DJP

I often help Home Designer and Chief Architect software users to learn how to use Chief or Home Designer software or to just help their plans along. visit my website to see examples of my work and to find out how much I charge for help or tutoring, please. Let me know what you decide. DJP

I have several 32-bit applications that run just fine on Windows 10 and in the past on Windows 8, 7 etc. Windows still supports 32 bit apps. DJP

I do not understand your statement or question as stated, sorry. X10 can open any version of Home Designer .plan files back to around Home Designer Version 6 that you started with. But once saved in X10 NO earlier versions than Home Designer 2019 can thereafter edit that plan file and ONLY if the X10 user programs the .plan file to be so edited (found in General Plan Defaults in X10). DJP

Try EBay or perhaps Amazon, Chief Architect does not sell legacy versions of their software. DJP

Lew, et al, it has always been this way: Newer versions can open older versions but once saved older versions cannot then after, open or edit those same files, whether Chief Premier or Home Designer Pro, top to bottom. The matching Chief Premier can work with the matching versions of Home Designer (with one exception: Chief Premier layout files cannot be edited in Home Designer Pro of any version. Home Designer pro you create one layout for each printed page and of course, Chief Premier's layout is capable of multiple printed pages per .layout file. I just finished a set of plans for a Home Designer Pro user and had to make 21 layout files, one for each printed page! DJP

X 10 is compatible only with HD 2019 X9 is compatible only with HD 2018 X8 with HD 2017 X7 with HD 2016 etc In order to actually share the plan file with Home Designer users is to, while open in Chief go to "General Plan Defaults" and you will find a checkbox there for programming the plan file for use in Home Designer Products. ONLY when that is checked and you then save the plan in Chief will any HD user be able to edit the plan thereafter. I do this all the time with various Home Designer users. DJP

Blueprints are not created, like the Ten Commandments, with God's own finger but rather by people like you and me. It is common that homes built from blueprints rarely match them in every respect and besides, no one will ever take up residence in a virtual-digital home, but rather just the one built from such helping constructs. In Home Designer Pro you only have, really a single choice using "sloped soffits". In Chief Premier there are additional choices but of course that is one of many reasons that Chief Premier costs a lot more than Pro. Your staircase many not meet today's codes for stairs and some stairs require a lot of manual, custom manipulation to make them come out right. After looking at your PDF, it appears that your stairs, meet code and should not be that difficult to emulate. Stairs are a pain and require methodical exactitude to make them work often times. 4) I had some success building the double sided fireplace but it was painful since I had to create all these walls and covering them with masonry, adding a window for the firehole, etc. But it becomes cumbersome very quickly. (I really wanted to make the entire fireplace as an architectural block but couldn't get that to work using walls. Also, editing an existing fireplace appeared to be too limiting for my needs.) Again you are up against the limitations provided by Home Designer Pro. In order to do everything possible in Chief, Pro users often also have to download and learn Sketch Up whre complex custom symbols can be more easily created for importation into HD Pro as symbols. Each project requires specific constructs and not all of them can be natively made in HD Pro. DJP

You can easily use a Default Window and then turn off the "Casing" adjust the "Sash" to then emulate the lower fixed window, then copy-paste that one above and resize it taller. Line up the two windows, then "Block" the pair. Be sure that in "Edit - Default Settings - Windows - Minimum Width Settings" is set to "Zero inches", then copy-paste the pairs to get the overall width you need and want, resizing the width as necessary. DJP

Read this Knowledge Base Help article and then practice what it says until you can create stairs with landings yourself: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00263/creating-staircases-connected-by-landings.html And watch this video located on the Home Designer Website: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/videos/watch/2246/ The stair tool has not changed for many versions, including yours. DJP

A screen capture of my Windows Task Bar DJP

There are SO many variations of this term, a sample that they pick out is essential, that image could then be added to the plans: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/german-smear-technique/?autologin=true DJP

I have tried demo versions of Softplan and Revit and found them unimpressive. I think the main thing is the earned competence of the end user is always what makes the difference in the quality of produce and NOT the software used. I have seen renderings and plans created by others in many types of programs over the years and the only common denominator is the ability of the user, never the software. DJP

Are you saying that you currently have a copy of Home Designer Suite made by Chief Architect Inc? Which version of Home Designer Suite do you currently have? Once I know exactly what you need and have, I can then answer your original question. DJP

Do as you like, others opinions are just that: others opinions. Do as you see fit for you and your family. DJP

In Chief Architect Premier there is a setting in "General Plan Defaults" as a checkbox that says: "Allow editing in Home Designer Products". So you check-mark that setting in Chief and that allows Home Designer titles of the same version year to edit and work on these .plan files. An older version of Home Designer can NOT open such files at all what so ever. DJP

Only Home Designer Pro has the manual ability to edit roof planes. As Eric has indicated, in Suite all you can do is to alter Wall Specification Dialog - Roof Tab settings and other Structural Tab settings and then rebuild roofs or you can upgrade to HD Pro that does have manual roof editing abilities. DJP