Phase one and phase 2 buildings

[NickMartino]

I'm starting a project that has 2 phases. The first phase (4 storey building)  finished floor elevation will be built 4'0" (1.2m) below the 2nd phase (4 storey building) finished ground floor elevation. These 2 building phases will be linked by a common stairwell vest.  Question: In CA If I build my phase one ground floor on "floor one" will I encounter any issues (i.e. building foundations) later on when I introduce the phase 2 building that is 4'0" (1.2m) higher than the first? 

 

Thanks! 

nick.m

[JiAngelo]

You are essentially building a "split-level".  Typically this is a 2 story home where one side is often 4'-8' lower/higher than the other side.  A duplex would be another term that could apply, each unit having a different base elevation. 

 

TO DRAW THE ENTIRE BUILDING IN ONE FILE, 

Figure Phase 1 is the primary building so all floor elevations of your subsequent building are based in reference to that one.  So when you draw the phase 2 part of the building, before dividing it into rooms, increase the floor elevation by 4' (per your example).  I'd box out the second and basement floors and define them and make sure they are proper height in relation to the adjacent floors (open a cross section to verify).

 

I'd also complete the roof and make sure the exterior looks properly and ties in well with the phase 1 roof.   The reason is that if you have all the rooms divided up, and you need to make a change (like from 4' above to 3'6" because that works out better), then you will have to open each room on each level and change them individually - and if you miss one, the level below will give you fits.

 

TO DRAW THE BUILDINGS INDIVIDUALLY

We've also drawn the buildings separately using a dividing wall, exported them as models, then imported them and placed them side by side with the shift in elevation.  This doesn't work as well on splits because the roofs don't plane out very well when there's a +4' difference between the two.

 

We've had situations where one unit has 9'/8' ceilings 1st floor/2nd floor and 2nd unit has 10'/9' ceilings because the terrain sloped 2' between one unit and the next.  The roof's planed out together and the front doors/garages were +/- 2 feet on each unit.  This way the models looked coherent when placed together. 

 

Duplex method is nice if you want to separately account for room schedules, living space, etc....  The entire building in one file gives back total square footage and it is hard to tell which room belongs to which level.

 

Hope this helps.

[NickMartino]

HI JiAngelo,

Thank you very much for your input. You definitely know your stuff. I'll read over this carefully and let you know how it goes.

 

Thanks again & take care

nickMartino

[DzinEye]

Nick,

Maybe you thought of this already, but I would suggest that you make and rename a copy of your plan after you build the phase one model, and use the renamed copy to do your phase 2.