Grouped walls, fixtures, etc. in one block?

[Investmentbiz 0]

I may be making things to difficult on myself but I need some help! I have an early 1900's 4-plex (2 story, pier & beam) that I own and I am trying to do an as built drawing. The poor old house has had an addition in just about every decade and as you can imagine not all of them were done by skilled craftsmen. Initially i measured and drew the perimeter of the house (where I discovered that it was about 4-6" out of square) but with so many jogs in & out and out of square I decided to measure each unit individually when I did the interior walls. I used CA's RoomPlanner & Bosch Bluetooth measuring device (which all I love...for the most part) over several days to measure the units.

I then sit down at the desktop & imported in each unit but I put them all "on the same page" so to speak (in one file) with the hope of fitting all these puzzle pieces together to form the one big "house" that it is.

However, the problem comes in when I select one of the units (walls, stairs, appliances, fixtures, etc.) and drag it over to my original perimeter drawing it joins the walls up, stretches a wall here & there and countless other little tweaks to the point that I do not know what has been changed! I would like to be able to make the equivalent of a space planning block that locks everything together as a group until I am sure I have bumped everything together correctly and that all the "puzzle pieces" are correctly situated next to and above & below each other before I "release" each block to merge in to one big drawing. Again, there may be a simple answer but because I do not use the program every day or sometimes I may go months without drawing, I have to almost relearn the program when I start a new project! LOL

Thanks in advance for any help from you Pro's!

[DRAWZILLA 784]

I would use the point to point tool to move the unit exactly where you want it to be.

[johnny 461]

I think the OP has a valid point and complaint - and I am afraid there is no good solution with Chief right now.  Point-to-point works better than dragging elements around, but there are still countless connection issues that develop depending on the task and number of items.

[Richard_Morrison 447]

In the "olden days" we used to use a cabinet to hold the positions of walls. You can accurately place a small base cabinet and lock the cabinet layer. Then walls will bump into the cabinets and go no further. (You can even put a cabinet on both side of a wall to lock it in place.) It's a pretty kludgy workaround, but it may help. Putting in a small 1/16" thick  invisible wall that is perpendicular to the wall you're trying not to extend is another possibility.

[Investmentbiz 0]

It is not that I have trouble necessarily moving and positioning the individually drawn units. One work around I found at least for practicing moving each unit into the perimeter I've drawn is to use the "CAD detail from view" which opens a tab where I can then select a unit's walls, etc.  and then make a CAD block, then I can "select an insertion point" which allows me to precisely move that unit,etc. and I can continue to move these 4 blocks of apt. units around to see how close they fit within the perimeter drawing I made around the exterior of the house. However......if I then say "OK, I've moved all four apt. units around inside this perimeter drawing and I am confident I want this arrangement saved just like it is..." then how would I translate that back over to my floorplan from the CAD detail page?

I am having to do this because I cannot get to all the walls to verify their thickness and I believe there are some double walls hidden, etc. So I am trying to reconcile exterior perimeter dimensions with the rats maze of rooms with every wall thickness known to man, plus walls I can't even measure....

Hope this makes sense...

[Richard_Morrison 447]

Not a bad solution. Just copy the blocks to the floor plan window, and do all your manipulating there. Remember that there is also a "Cad to Walls" tool, which may help. (Or it may not.)

[MoeGia 51]

i might try putting one unit on level 1 with the CAD detail from view.  Then on level 2 drop in the second unit.  Using the reference floor you can use edit area floor to position the unit where it should be in relation to the lower level unit.  When you have it where you want it, Copy Paste Hold into position on level 1.  Do the same for the other 2 units.

 

If things don't work out, you can undo and go back to the other level and relocate as needed.