Walls - A New Way Of Building A Plan


Joe_Carrick
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Over time, I've built up so many Wall Types (particularly for framed walls) that it's gotten fairly complicated to put together a Plan. Different Exterior Layer combinations, Stud Sizes, Interior Layer combinations, etc has created a very long and complicated list - both in the "Wall Definitions List" and in my Library.

So now, after experimenting with Material Regions a bit I'm revising the process I use. I'm cutting down my Framed Wall Types to just a few - most of which have no finish material layers.
I don't mind having walls with no finish materials in the original model because it allows me to simply place any material definition I want on each wall surface instead of having to have so many more Wall Types and then perhaps having to reverse the layers, break walls so I can change the Type, etc.

Basically I have just a couple of Framed Wall Types that are just the Main Layer (4" Stud, 6" Stud", etc.) and some Wall Material Regions (1/2" Drywall, 5/8" Drywall, 1/4" Tile-Thinset-Backerboard, etc). I can very quickly add the WMR I want to any wall surface - or part of a wall - and add holes for niches, etc very quickly. For my Drywall Mat.Regions I include in the definition a thin Layer of Paint which allows me to change the color without using the dreaded "Paint Tool".

For Exterior Walls the same concept works. When I want several different finish materials on an Elevation, I simply select the WMR I need and place it on the Exterior Wall Surface. They can be accurately located and sized dimensionally in an Elevation View.

Previously I had about 30-40 different framed Wall Types and struggled with getting them all correct so that I had the right materials everywhere. Now I can use just a few Wall Types and a few Wall Material Regions to get virtually any build up. It's a big change in the way I am working but it solves so many problems and makes the process much faster for me.

If I need a new Wall Material Region definition it only takes a minute to define it and add it to my Library.

As I'm building a Plan now, I get to see it as the Contractor does - Framed Walls, then Exterior and Interior Materials applied. It allows me to simply place any material definition I want on each wall surface instead of having to have so many more Wall Types and then perhaps having to reverse the layers, break walls so I can change the Type, etc.
For Exterior Walls the same concept works. When I want several different finish materials on an Elevation, I simply select the WMR I need and place it on the Exterior Wall Surface. They can be accurately located and sized dimensionally in an Elevation View.

If I need a new Wall Material Region definition it only takes a minute to define it and add it to my Library.

For me, this is a fairly big change to the way I build a Plan - but it saves me a lot of time.

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I'm finding some problems with this approach that I didn't notice before.  There are bugs (IMO) in how Wall Material Regions work so while I will report the problems to support, I'm revising how I do this.  I will keep my many Wall Types for now.

 

However, I have found a very easy way to cut a hole in the surface  of a wall.  The attached Library Object called "Hole in the Wall" will cut a hole in the Surface Layers of any wall to allow another object to be recessed into the wall.

 

This is an X7 Library Object - if you're using X6 and can't import it I can create one for X6.

Hole in the Wall.calibz

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