Changing dimension "points" on plumbing items?

[madcowscarnival]

I don't regularly dimension plumbing infrastructure, but have a client asking for dims to help him with plumbing layout on a slab.  Using point-point dims, the "standard shower" will grab a center of the whole block, but doesn't recognize the drain location (slightly offset from the drain).  The toilet picks up a center that's roughly the center of the bowl, rather than the plumbing rough-in location.

 

Is it possible to somehow manually set where you want the dimension line to "snap" to on a plumbing (or other) block?  I tried to "explode" (I'm more used to CAD terms) it, but that button doesn't appear when the block is highlighted.

 

I also tried to "place point" but for the life of me I can't make it appear at my crosshairs when I'm visually placing it at a (say) drain (it shifts slightly down and right, sometimes up and left, its like trying to pick up an orby).  Plus, I would like to have the dimension point "built-in" to the block when used.

 

Hopefully it's something simple.  Any advice would be appreciated, thanks all.

[SHCanada2]

I will use point to point to drop a marker or use a circle and point to point. I then put a text with leader line to note it is the drain rough in. If you do this before you place the fixture you should have no issue

 

It's not ideal and perhaps others have a better way.

 

If I have to move it I can then move the circle or the marker

[CharlesVolz]

I show a measurement from the outside edge of the slab to the near main layer of plumbing wall, in two directions. So a plumber can easily locate the drain from there. This prevents a plumber from having to add several measurements on the jobsite, misreading where those measurements start and end, etc.

 

Also, if the plumbing wall is drywall and gets changed to backerboard, thinset, tile, etc., your dimensions are still good.

 

Symbols cannot be trusted to represent the actual product. Also, tubs and showers are placed up against the main (framing) layer of a wall. So the center of the exposed part is different than the symbol's center.

[Joe_Carrick]

Toilets have rough-ins

• from finished wall (not framing) 
  • 10"
  • 12" most common
  • 14"
• from finished side walls (not framing)
  • 15" minumum

I just put point markers at those locations and dimension to them.  For the side clearances I prefer to have the bounding box define that as well as a 1" clearance at the back to the toilet and 24" at the front. 

 

You will probably need to edit the bounding boxes for all toilets since Chief (in most cases) doesn't have those values set correctly.

Edited 23 hours ago by Joe_Carrick

[SHCanada2]

37 minutes ago, Joe_Carrick said:

 

You will probably need to edit the bounding boxes for all toilets since Chief (in most cases) doesn't have those values set correctly.

hmmm ive used the same toilet forever from the CA catalog, and it is at 30" wide...maybe i got lucky...or maybe it is not at 30 and ive been wrong all along!

[Joe_Carrick]

32 minutes ago, SHCanada2 said:

hmmm ive used the same toilet forever from the CA catalog, and it is at 30" wide...maybe i got lucky...or maybe it is not at 30 and ive been wrong all along!

It probably doesn't have the correct front and back bounding box offsets.

If you use a manufacturer's (Kohler, etc) all of those are in the library as 0.  You would need to copy to your user library or just edit in the plan.

Edited 22 hours ago by Joe_Carrick