Stairs with drywall handrails with cutouts in the walls

[redThomes]

Hello, I'm a new comer to chief architect and need help building the attached stairwell.
Please advice how to go about making this. The colored in area is drywall with built in wooden handrails.

[redThomes]

I can use those features to get cut outs into the wall, but I can't get the cutout to go all the way to the edge of the wall. 
See attached. 

[DRAWZILLA]

35 minutes ago, redThomes said:

I can use those features to get cut outs into the wall, but I can't get the cutout to go all the way to the edge of the wall. 
See attached. 

Try to Change your casing to zero, even if they are off.

[Kbird1]

19 minutes ago, solver said:

The key part of your signature is your Chief version -- X9, X10 etc.

 

There are 4 walls used here.

 

 

Starting on the left.

 

The red wall is a pony wall shaped in elevation. The lower wall is a single layer of drywall that's there to cap the bottom of the wall. Using a Glass House view lets you see the stairs for alignment.

 

The green railing wall is No Room Definition.

 

The blue wall is a normal wall.

 

The orange wall is a railing set to Follow Stairs.

 

Ahhhh the joy that is Stairwells in CA X10

[Alaskan_Son]

19 minutes ago, solver said:

There are 4 walls used here.

 

 

Another really good illustration Eric.  So simple, but so clear. 

[redThomes]

This is very helpful! This is probably a stupid question, but even if I set the green wall to 'no room definition' I cannot place it underneath the red wall. 
How were you able to build two walls that occupy the same space? - how can you place the green wall underneath the red wall?

[WesternDesign]

Great illustration Eric.  I'm keeping this for reference.

 

[redThomes]

Wow. Thank you, you're a hero!

[dshall]

18 hours ago, solver said:

The key part of your signature is your Chief version -- X9, X10 etc.

 

There are 4 walls used here.

 

 

Starting on the left.

 

The red wall is a pony wall shaped in elevation. The lower wall is a single layer of drywall that's there to cap the bottom of the wall. Using a Glass House view lets you see the stairs for alignment.

.........

 

I want to thank those on this forum who share their ideas,  nice Eric.

[dskogg]

wow, that sounds complicated....i guess ca didnt do much with stairs in x10?

I want to do a 3 tread winder and have rail open until it reaches the ceiling...i am having a hell of a time to get

the stair to work properly...any thoughts on how to do this?

[Kbird1]

Do it in 2 or 3 Sections , you don't want Winders selected in the top section which causes that weird pointy tread at the top.

[dskogg]

So Mick not really sure how to do that.  I selected ignore sub section boundries..that didnt work.

How do you get stair sections to not connect?

[Kbird1]

3 hours ago, dskogg said:

So Mick not really sure how to do that.  I selected ignore sub section boundries..that didnt work.

How do you get stair sections to not connect?

 

.Plan File?

 

I draw the stairs as 2 or 3 separate sections and then adjust their top and bottom heights, so the "appear" to Join, it may take 3 sections for that Staircase, I usually draw a straight one off on the side so I know what CA thinks is the "best Fit" for Riser height etc.

 

Was it one of your other recent Posts I mentioned this in too recently? I thought I posted a "fixed" plan for someone showing this technique ?? , it does take a bit of messing around but it's the best way we have with these common Stair types I find.

 

Is it an existing Stair ? cos it doesn't appear to meet current Code - as a far as the winders go...

 

M.

[dskogg]

Hi MIck, thanks for reply, doesnt stair sections want to connect when you put them together?

This is an existing house i am trying to get a stair up to an attic space, what part does not meet code?

Trying to find best solution given current space.

[dskogg]

Here is a sample plan, i am trying to do a winder and a rail with pickets up to where the railing would meet a wall.

Very difficult to do this any help would be appreciated.  

I do not think ca has done much to improve their stair functionality for a very long time, i wish they could make this better and easier

to use and work.  

stair_winder_plan.zip

[robdyck]

The fastest way is to build it yourself. If you know exactly how all the framing and finishing will work together, then it's fairly quick to build it manually using p-solids and moldings, and then your plan views will match your section views, and renderings and details etc. You'll only have to do it once (unless the client request changes). I usually leave this step until I'm sure the decisions are close to finalized.

[Alaskan_Son]

20 minutes ago, robdyck said:

The fastest way is to build it yourself. If you know exactly how all the framing and finishing will work together, then it's fairly quick to build it manually using p-solids and moldings, and then your plan views will match your section views, and renderings and details etc. You'll only have to do it once (unless the client request changes). I usually leave this step until I'm sure the decisions are close to finalized.

 

As crazy as it sounds, I think I'm with you on this.  Time and time again I see guys getting completely bent out of shape trying to get Chief to build stairs like they want when I honestly think it would be much faster to just build from scratch.  Obviously this isn't true for all situations and there's definitely something to be said regarding the ability to deal with changes.

[Kbird1]

Hi

7 hours ago, dskogg said:

Hi MIck, thanks for reply, doesnt stair sections want to connect when you put them together?

This is an existing house i am trying to get a stair up to an attic space, what part does not meet code?

Trying to find best solution given current space.

 

Hi David , as far as I am aware Winders do not meet Code in many jurisdictions now , and even if they do they generally need to be minimum 6" deep 12" off the wall (walking line) or in some areas a minimum of 3" deep at the Wall, (cannot come to a point) however I am not aware of Calgary's Codes. If it is an existing stair then it is likely grandfathered in and wouldn't need changing unless the house if under a Full Gut and Remodel , then they may insist on it meeting new Codes.

 

Looking at your Test Plan , you don't need Winders I believe , there appears to be enough Head Room and there seems to be room in the Attic , so you can give even more clearance over the bottom 2 treads for a feeling or more space. Adding a Skylight over the Landing would help too I think, But depending on the Client it may need to go higher in the Stairwell.

These kinds of stairs take far too much time to do, for what they are , but unfortunately CA still has not done much to the way Auto Stairs build these kind of Stairs, which are in nearly every home these days due to Space and/or height constraints.

 

Yes, I flipped the front door Sidelight that may not be possible, but it doesn't change the Stairs..... I also think the Open Stringer is a nicer look for the bottom half, but the Client could save some money by using a  Drywalled Curb Wall instead , in which case why use Spindles at all if the Budget is that tight? , just take it upto 36" and save all the money.
 

 

 

M.

[dskogg]

Thanks for help guys, Mick the roof structure should be 16” deep to allow for insulation and venting, this will reduce headroom some.

 

kind of defeats the purpose of an automated drafting program when I still need to manually draw stairs don’t you think?

 

maybe some simpler questions

1. How to adjust stringer thickness?

2. How to make stringer a different material than riser, because this does happen.

 

I am frustrated that chief continues to give us updates and I continue to spend money on ssa and basic functionality like stairs does not get addressed.. is it just me?

[Kbird1]

47 minutes ago, dskogg said:

Thanks for help guys, Mick the roof structure should be 16” deep to allow for insulation and venting, this will reduce headroom some.

 

kind of defeats the purpose of an automated drafting program when I still need to manually draw stairs don’t you think?

 

maybe some simpler questions

1. How to adjust stringer thickness?

2. How to make stringer a different material than riser, because this does happen.

 

I am frustrated that chief continues to give us updates and I continue to spend money on ssa and basic functionality like stairs does not get addressed.. is it just me?

 

Nope , not just you, more like Everyone I almost didn't the last two years but looking at the Cost to upgrade every 2-3 years is the same as paying for SSA so..... I've been waiting for 5 years at least for a Material List overall and in that time all we have gotten are macros to use in the ML, which still isn't dynamic for some reason like Schedules are. Oh and the ability to click on an item in the ML and find it in the Plan. Which with the Obtuse and incorrect Names the ML uses for Items will be handy to find out what the H*** it is referring to  ie Fascia is not a Rafter... )

 

Well it didn't say in your plan that it wasn't complete or Correct , ie the Roof Structure / Insul. so I only designed what I could.... but that's doable too by lowering the landing and or starting it further over etc , I don't know what the constraints are but am willing to work on a Paid Assignment for you

 

1.) Stringer thickness or depth?  AFAIK you can't change either they are hard-coded , just like the single middle stringer is hardcoded so if you want extras you need to draw your own currently but you can copy the existing Stringer in elevation and make it deeper eg 2x12 instead of 2x10 or thicker eg 3"x10 or 3x12 and place them on top of the Auto-Built ones.

 

2.) Also No ...it is hard-coded into the Auto-Stair Builder but as you can see in the Link above, doing your own you can make individual materials for each piece if desired. Should that be needed, also a No, but it is unfortunately what we have today, Stairs haven't changed much in the last 8-10 years I've been using CA it seems.

 

M.

 

[dskogg]

Thanks Mick, i can handle any 3d objects to make, just frustrating that i have to.

 

Its great chief hard codes stringer widths...but i do not know of one stair manufacturer that builds stringers

out of 2" wide material as a standard?  The standard as far as i know is dimensional lumber 1.5" thick, and why when

i place a stair against drywall is the stringer only 3/4" of an inch?...still doesn't make sense unless i wanted

to place stair against the framing and then it would still be 1.5" thick...makes no sense.

 

Come on chief it you are going to hardwire items get it right or give us control of these things.

[Kbird1]

I'm guessing cos with Drywall on you can't see the Structural Elements of the Stairs ( the Carriage ) Usually, the Decorative Element above, ie the Stair Baseboard or Kick (or Stringer as some call) it is then the "important element" in CA 3D Views so it takes importance, since likely the Auto Stair Builder can't build both of different thicknesses in the same plane.

 

 

[dskogg]

Mick, if the stair is not butted up to framing but only flush with drywall there is nothing to hide stringer.

 

around here many stairs are built using 2x10, 2x12, they are kept away from studs so drywall can slip by and then a cap is placed on stringer scribed to wall, then carpet is attached to inside of stringer and tucked under cap and treads and risers are carpeted as well.

 

if I wanted to bury stringer in wall I would push stair flush with studs.

 

just my two cents.

 

cheers

[Alaskan_Son]

On 2/15/2018 at 7:09 AM, dskogg said:

Thanks Mick, i can handle any 3d objects to make, just frustrating that i have to.

 

Its great chief hard codes stringer widths...but i do not know of one stair manufacturer that builds stringers

out of 2" wide material as a standard?  The standard as far as i know is dimensional lumber 1.5" thick, and why when

i place a stair against drywall is the stringer only 3/4" of an inch?...still doesn't make sense unless i wanted

to place stair against the framing and then it would still be 1.5" thick...makes no sense.

 

Come on chief it you are going to hardwire items get it right or give us control of these things.

 

Have you submitted these concerns directly to Chief?

[Alaskan_Son]

There are so many variables to stair building that I don't see how Chief could ever cover it all with a dialog box.  There could definitely be some improvement though.  I for one just wish we could explode more parametric objects so we could use the automated features for the rough designs and then just turn it off or convert to primitives for perfecting the details.  Here's how we build a typical set of stairs for whatever its worth...