Top plate and Bottom plate lengths showing in materials list

[sealtech101]

I'm trying to figure out how to adjust lumber length in plan so that it will show right in the materials list.

Example: I build a 30' wall with no doorways. In materials list is shows that the fir plate is 40' and that I need 1 piece. In reality common plate length is 16' lumber with either a double stud at location or split between one stud.

 

How can I build my model to reflect outcome of lumber length in materials list. Or adjust a setting I'm missing. Thanks

[Chopsaw]

Not so sure there is a setting for this but if you want to you can custom frame all your wall details after you are sure there will be no more revisions or auto framing. I think is saw a thread on this subject a long time ago but I have not been able to find it.

I might have been incorrect, check this out: https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/4082-add-disclaimer-to-material-list/?p=35388

[Alaskan_Son]

I'm trying to figure out how to adjust lumber length in plan so that it will show right in the materials list.

Example: I build a 30' wall with no doorways. In materials list is shows that the fir plate is 40' and that I need 1 piece. In reality common plate length is 16' lumber with either a double stud at location or split between one stud.

 

How can I build my model to reflect outcome of lumber length in materials list. Or adjust a setting I'm missing. Thanks

 

As far as I know, the only way to have your material list automatically generate what you're looking for is to manually place breaks in your plate material so that each piece of lumber is shorter than the longest material available in your Structural Member Reporting dbx.  You could actually place the breaks exactly where you want them and place extra studs where you want them too and both your model and material list could be extra accurate but I think that's kinda crazy.  I think its best to manually modify the material list instead and leave those plate breaks to be decided in the field. 

 

I think the bottom line is...Either manually modify the model or manually modify the material list. 

[kylejmarsh]

Just diving into the Materials List feature myself and noticing the same issue - the plate lengths are measured as one long piece. Guess you could go through and break them all to hit standard lengths but that's not at all efficient. It would be quicker to export to an excel file where you've already set-up a function to divide those out across standard lumber sizes.

 

Obviously, the materials list should split plates as a function of tallying things, especially when the 'Buy List' option is selected. 

 

It seems to me that the Materials List feature is a bit of a sideshow - probably still a feature they're working to improve. Maybe we should start a specific thread with requests on how this feature could be made to be more usable?

[GeneDavis]

It's everything that's long.  Subfascia, rims, mudsills, ridgeboards, maybe more.  Much easier to think it all through, identify it, and recompute it to the number of sixteen foot lengths required.

 

The material list is just a rough guide.  Export it to a spreadsheet and get busy editing.

 

And when you are all done with that, be sure to include enough 2x4 lengths for all the wall bracing the crew is going to need, plus the truss bracing, all the miscellaneous blocking, temporary scaffolding, and more, that goes into a framing job.

[kylejmarsh]

If I had more time or was otherwise technically inclined, I'd come up with a Template SS and Macros that would import, parse, and recalculate the materials list that Chief exports.

 

If anybody ever makes one of these let me know I'd gladly pay $100 for that spreadsheet. I bet a lot of others would too...

[BrownTiger]

I posted this several times in the Suggestion forum, that the wall really needs a "Section Length" value - for material list use. Not only plates are incorrectly accounted for, but at the end of section - CA is missing extra end stud. So if you are framing in 8' sections a 40' long wall, CA software undercounts 4 section end studs. Now normal 16' sections are less drastic - 2. If you go into framing overview you can see the missing studs or 140' one section framing.

 

Breaking into section is ridiculous and labor intensive. Softplan and PlanSwift offer better approach. But CA should at least add "Section Length" parameter. In addition no way to trace wrong framing members back, like if CA mistake generated 2x4.5 wall, no way to find where it is, or infamous CA error "2x12x20' NOT found - 16 count"