Foundations with Concrete Walls


HarrisReno
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In my plan, the body of the house is constructed of 12" concrete walls. However, the garage is framed. As you can see in the image, the rock bottom of the walls stops at the foundation on the body of the house. But, the rocks extend farther down on the garage. Is there a way to keep the bottom line of the rocks consistent around the entire house? Since I am placing a deck under the front, middle gable, I'd like to keep the bottom rock line offset from the ground, like it is on the main body of the house. Meaning, I'd like to "bring up" the bottom line of the rocks around the garage. LenhartPlan2022-InProgress.plan

 

 

Foundation01.jpg

LenhartPlan2022-InProgress.plan

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Oh... my... word! These videos are so helpful! Yes - it makes sense, and I absolutely DO want to learn the correct way, not the "work-around." I really thought I was being so smart when I defined my new wall, but your framing secret is extremely insightful. 

 

I know! My roof is still a mess. I did do SO well with the auto-roof builder, like you showed me in your video. But that dang shed roof crept in. And the middle, front-facing gable is so terribly placed. Ultimately, I made my final tweaks manually. It came back to bite me, and I wanted to bang my head against the concrete walls of this house. I'm too embarrassed to post repeated questions, so I just winged it. :( But, you're really helping me learn the ins and outs! Don't give up on me!

 

Thanks so much!!

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I am happy to help with your auto roof.

Can you post a floor plan and also post a roof plan indicating roof pitches and where gables occur - this can be a simple cad drawing or hand drawn sketch.

Are all areas the same ceiling height?

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That's so nice of you, Glenn! All of you have been incredibly helpful. 

Yes, the ceiling height throughout the entire plan should be 9-ft. 

Attaching this file is like airing my dirty diary, but here goes...

The attached file is pretty close to "handing over" to my friends because I can take pictures and it "looks" pretty, but I know there's a slew of problems - well beyond roofs (when I say "hand over" I simply mean renderings, not the file itself). In this file, I have not yet implemented the advice of Solver's video above. 

The auto-roof feature created these dashed lines that indicated everywhere the roof "creeped" into the interior of the house. I was willing to turn a blind eye to this, given my time frame and non-paying friends. But, when I implemented the vaulted ceiling in the center of the house, adjusting the roofs manually became necessary (or so I thought). I mainly tweaked a little and then used the "join roof planes" tool. 

I don't have the back porch on this plan yet (sorry... I'm running behind). I feel like I'm just sharing a mess. Yikes!

LenhartPlan2022-ScaledDown.zip

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I am guessing that you have changed the pitch of the various roofs to make their ridges the same height.

I would commonly not work like that - although there is nothing to stop you designing a roof system using different roof pitches as you have done.

In this case I would normally build all the roofs the same pitch (say, 8), and then steepen up the roof that joins the front and back porches to, say 12.

It is a good idea to approach the whole design holistically (floor plan and roofs together) instead of designing the floor plan and then trying to force a roof on top.

If you can do it, you can control the ridge heights by the width of the building at various locations.

Similarly for the rear porch/dining room area, I would try and avoid that nearly flat roof.

Similar philosophy if you are wanting cathedral ceilings - you then need to consider them at an early stage.

The gable on the front right looks really awkward to me - too steep and doesn't relate to the windows.

I will play around a bit more.

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Really good feedback, Glenn - it gives me great food for thought. 

In my design/remodeling company, we do not touch roofs - ever (thank goodness, right?!). We're strictly kitchens and baths. This house is definitely outside of my set of skills, but I love the idea of knowing how. 

The perimeter lines of the house were determined by the future homeowners, before I came along. I'm not really sure why they mentally committed to these dimensions. I should have opened my mind to smarter dimensions that would fit a logical floor plan and roof design. I know they want to keep it as rectangular as possible for cost purposes.

I absolutely agree about the right gable. It is awkward. Previously, there was no front-facing gable here. Instead, the shed roof that is currently over the dining area extended over the closet and back bedroom as well, and the gable faced the side of the house (keeping this gable closer in width to the opposite side of the house, if that makes sense).  

I'm very grateful for your feedback and help! 

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Eric,

Exactly what I was going to suggest - pushing out the walls under the gables to give them a reason to be there and have better junctions between the gables and the hip roofs.

I would probably increase the pitch of the roofs over the front porch to make it more of a feature.

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