radllc Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Hi, very new to the program. I am setting wall types and drawing a plan with 1/2" material on each side of my 2 x 4 internal walls; hence the wall size is 4.5". When I review plans, I do see it is very typical to show the full wall sizes rather than stud wall sizing on plans. I can get dimensioning to work to correctly show stud to stud dimensions; so that when the structure is being built, the measurements are not off in that the crew understands where to place stud walls. The issue I am having as an example is placing a stairs or a post. Since the walls are drawn with wall materials on them, when placing a post, it is going to be off by 1/2" due to the material on the end cap of the wall (in the case of the plan I am drawing. Same for stairs, which are placed between bare studs; so there may be material on one side of the wall versus the other where the stairs is placed. My question is, is there an easy way to control this when placing certain objects, or on plans, do you not worry about an 1/2". I am trying to get my plans exact (and again I new); so I don't really know what the general practice is. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneDavis Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Not sure what you want to do with posts, but for stairs, I like to draw them in a totally open space near where I want to place them, and after making adjustments for rise, run, width, as may be required, then move them using point to point. For ensuring that object like stairs bump and stop at walls (and they stop at the wall finish, in your case against your 1/2" material affixed to framing) be sure to set bumping using EDIT > SNAP SETTINGS > BUMPING/PUSHING to toggle the bump/push stop behavior. Try it OFF, toggle it ON, and see how things work for stairs and other objects. F11 is your shortcut key for this toggle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawdzira Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Book #1 https://www.amazon.com/Building-Construction-Illustrated-Francis-Ching/dp/1118458346 Book #2 https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Practice-Architectural-Working-Drawings/dp/1118880528 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radllc Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 12 minutes ago, GeneDavis said: Not sure what you want to do with posts, but for stairs, I like to draw them in a totally open space near where I want to place them, and after making adjustments for rise, run, width, as may be required, then move them using point to point. For ensuring that object like stairs bump and stop at walls (and they stop at the wall finish, in your case against your 1/2" material affixed to framing) be sure to set bumping using EDIT > SNAP SETTINGS > BUMPING/PUSHING to toggle the bump/push stop behavior. Try it OFF, toggle it ON, and see how things work for stairs and other objects. F11 is your shortcut key for this toggle. Thanks - that is helpful. So when you are placing stairs, are you typically just overlaying the sheetrock that was placed on each side wall edging and expanding the stairs stud to stud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawdzira Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 The industry standard in dimensioning plans is to surface of studs/ framing members since it is in the framing stage where the layout of walls occurs. If you are then laying out finish items (stair railings) you would then be dimensioning to finished surfaces. To be honest, you are asking about things that are not in the DIY realm. To grab a quote from The Big Lebowski "you are entering a world of pain". Construction documents are no place to attempt to save money unless you have the proper experience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radllc Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 2 hours ago, Gawdzira said: The industry standard in dimensioning plans is to surface of studs/ framing members since it is in the framing stage where the layout of walls occurs. If you are then laying out finish items (stair railings) you would then be dimensioning to finished surfaces. To be honest, you are asking about things that are not in the DIY realm. To grab a quote from The Big Lebowski "you are entering a world of pain". Construction documents are no place to attempt to save money unless you have the proper experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radllc Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 I am really asking more about the program. I am not new to architecture and engineering. I do understanding stud placement and such. My question is really about how the program works when you place a stairs in the example I gave above. I think what I hear you saying is I can start with raw studs first and then add wall materials after. I just did not see an easy way to do that without starting with walls that have the base materials such a sheetrock built on to it already at the point I am drawing the floor plan. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneDavis Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Walls are "drawn" using the mouse and Chief configs those walls (see all the types in the dropdown) based on how you have defined the default walls. Out of the box, Chief "builds" the interior walls as three layers, the main layer is 2x4 wood frame, the layers out and in are 1/2" gypsum drywall. Exterior walls out of the box are 2x6 framing in main layer, with 1/2 sheetrock in and out is OSB then siding. You can create any types of walls you want, including exterior with framing and rainscreen layers, and more. I'd advise spending a half day or more watching some of the excellent Chief training videos easily found on YouTube, or best found right at the User Center in the Chief website. Click that chiefarchitect.com link at upper right and you will go there. Maybe even a day and a half. Or a week and a half. There is a lot to learn. If you want to leapfrog all this, consider getting some one on one training either with Chief or one of the power users here like the excellent Rene Rabbitt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radllc Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 Understood. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisb222 Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 19 hours ago, radllc said: When I review plans, I do see it is very typical to show the full wall sizes rather than stud wall sizing on plans. That's the opposite of my experience and practice. Everything I see and do displays rough framing on plans, not finished wall thickness. 19 hours ago, radllc said: Since the walls are drawn with wall materials on them, when placing a post, it is going to be off by 1/2" due to the material on the end cap of the wall Not sure why you would be placing a post at the end of a wall. I assume you want a structural load-bearing post inside the wall, as part of the framing, but I have no problem manually placing a post against the framing at the end of a wall: Maybe what you need to do is display your framing plan without showing the drywall, which again, is the common method in my experience: 19 hours ago, radllc said: Same for stairs, which are placed between bare studs; so there may be material on one side of the wall versus the other where the stairs is placed. Here, it's common practice the allow 1/2" space between the stairs and any wall on either side. i.e., 38" wide staircase would be placed inside a 39" wide rough framing opening. That said, placing stairs between walls in Chief can be squirrelly sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneDavis Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 I've framed houses and site-built the staircases that went in them. Our technique resulted in the exact 3D look Chief returns when butting Chief stairs to the 1/2 sheetrock wall finish. So place stairs against finish, and not against framing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawdzira Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 I started drafting without computers so a page of information was a big time commitment (at least 8 hours of drafting per page was a good number for hand drawings on average). Now, with a quick change of layer display I can kick out a framing specific plan for dimensioning. This is where the transition to computer aided drafting can be utilized to enhance the communication in a cost/time effective manner. If the information is critical at the framing stage, not showing wall finishes makes sense. Framers want to frame and if your framer is calling out measurements in 1/16's there is going to be some salty language following. If the information will become critical at the finish stage, giving clear dimensions from finish surfaces is what is needed. The thing I try to keep in mind is that a 2x4 wall with 2 layers of 5/8" wallboard with a skim coat of finish on top could be +/- as much as a 1/2" depending on the series of events that occured to get it to that stage. Therefore, if I need a finished clear dimension, that needs to be explicitly stated on the construction documents and planned for. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHCanada2 Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 4 hours ago, Chrisb222 said: Here, it's common practice the allow 1/2" space between the stairs and any wall on either side. i.e., 38" wide staircase would be placed inside a 39" wide rough framing opening. here too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radllc Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 Thanks all for the input. I ended up removing the materials on inner walls. It greatly simplified my dimensioning and layout for the project I am working on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbird1 Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 On 1/5/2024 at 6:56 AM, radllc said: Thanks all for the input. I ended up removing the materials on inner walls. It greatly simplified my dimensioning and layout for the project I am working on. This is not really necessary if you prefer to work that way you can simply turn off the Wall Layers and turn on Main Layer Only ( the main layer of a Wall is the Structural Layer, so Framing in this case). Mick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneDavis Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Self-train via videos, please. Or get an hour of 1 on 1. Hey! Before you do that, download and study some of the sample plans and layouts from the Chief wbsite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now