I'm very new to this program so please forgive me if my question is obvious.
I am trying to model my house from an existing set of blueprints. It is a two level house set into a hill side. It has brick exterior veneer. I'm not trying to draw the veneers at this point in time--just the basic core walls. I will add the veneer later.
My problem is in drawing the ground floor. The ground floor consists of three different wall types. The back wall (set into a hill) is 12" block with no exterior veneer. The two side walls are 8" block with 4" brick exterior veneer. The front side is 2x4 wood frame with 4" brick exterior veneer. The two side walls are straight but both the back wall and the front wall have offsets. All wall intersections and/or offsets are orthogonal. I know all of the interior dimensions to the core faces of these walls. I can enter all of these dimensions using the "by offset" method (inner face of core wall with 0" offset towards the outside) as long as I stay with just one exterior wall type. However, when I then go back and select individual walls to change them to their actual wall type (such as changing the side walls from 12" block to 8" block or changing the front walls from 12" block to 4" wood), the interior dimensions get messed up. When I go in and correct the interior dimension on one side of the house (or one part of an offset wall), the interior dimensions on some other part of the drawing change with it. When I then fix that, the first dimension that I correct goes out again. I basically need some way to turn off the program feature which is trying to keep the polygon closed until I can work my way all around the polygon.
I am about to the point of making two models, one for interior work and one for outside work. However, I thought I would ask for help in this post first. Thanks very much.
JimT
Hi Jim,
A veneer wall is not a second wall attached outside another wall but.is a combination wall - you cannot add a second wall on the outside as you will have many more problems than you already have, especially with windows and doors! So, before you go any further, can you you please let me know the exact dimensions of each of the veneer walls that you need, (as in 8" block with 1" cavity with 4" veneer) and I can make these walls for you. I also need to know which version of the program you are using so that the new wall types will be compatible.
We can look at the dimension questions later but you need to get the wall types right first. When you have the walls to use, just draw the exterior shape approximately - don't worry about exact sizes when you draw, as the veneer will only appear after theexterior wall joins back to itself at the original corner. Next select the walls that need to be changed to a different type, right click and choose Replace to change them.
Now, with all the exterior walls in place and of the correct type, simply drag them so that the exterior dimension match what you want. To get very accurate dimensions use the Nudge (arrow keys), to move the wall just a fraction of an inch if necessary.
You are now ready to add in the interior walls, using the wall type you need for each wall (if any are different). Make sure each wall connects correctly to others by stretching them beyond the centre of the wall they connect to, or even right through the wall, deleting the unwanted bit from the other side if necessary. This will ensure you do not have any corrupt joins. Now simply drag these walls around to make the room sizes correct, using the Nudge for fine adjustments.
This method is much easier and quicker than tying to type in the dimensions and saves the problem of one dimension changing another.
If any of that is not clear just ask for more detail where you do not understand, but it is important to get the veneer wall types you require first to save rreworking it all again. Let me know the configurations you require and I will post a file with these types for you to import into your catalogue.
Allan
Mr. Chesney--
Thanks for your help. It sounds like I was definitely on the wrong track with my plan to "add the veneers later".
Here are answers to your questions based on my interpretation of the house blueprints. Unfortunately, the blueprints are very tattered and faded (previous owners did not take good care of them). I'm assuming that we only need to be concerned with the exterior veneer. Most of the interior veneer is drywall except for a few areas of exposed block in the utility room in the back of the house.
Unfortunately, a complicating factor that I did not mention is that the exterior veneer is not simply just brick. It is brick interspersed with regions of stucco (Dryvit). Unfortunately, the Dryvit height is not uniform. For example, on the back wall alone there are sections with 2' high brick with Dryvit above it and sections with 8" high brick with Dryvit above it. I have attached photos of the house in a zipped file for you to see what it looks like. For my purposes, I'd be happy to just draw the house as all brick exterior. The house is already built and I really only intend to use TFP on the outside to assist with landscaping. I'm not planning on changing the structure. Don't get me wrong, it would be wonderful to have the Dryvit represented in the model but I am really just starting out learning this program. I'm afraid it would overwhelm me. I would, however, like the interior to be accurate in order to facilitate future remodeling.
Ground Floor Back Walls: 12" block with no exterior veneer.
Ground Floor Side Walls: 8" block with 4" exterior brick (or Dryvit in some places).
Ground Floor Front Walls" 4" wood (2x4s) with 4" exterior brick (or Dryvit in some places).
Note: I don't see any 1" air cavities shown on the blueprints
Ground Floor Back Wall Interior Dimensions: 14'/0deg,18'/270deg,12'4"/0deg,1'6"/270deg,7'8"/0deg,1'6"/90deg,24'8"/0deg
Ground Floor Left Side Wall Interior Dimensions: 47'/90deg
Ground Floor Right Side Wall Interior Dimensions: 29'/90deg
Ground Floor Front Wall Interior Dimensions: 14'8"/0deg,6'6"/270deg,29'4"/0deg,6'6"/90deg,14'8"/0deg
Note: All above interior dimensions are to the inside of the core--not to the inside of the drywall.
I'm using TurboFloorPlan Pro Version 15.
Thanks again for your help!
Jim T
Hi Jim,
Once I create the veneer walls for you you will not be able to change the exterior veneer width or any cavity but you will still be able to change the inside wall. Can you just confirm that there is no cavity? This is unusual because without a cavity moisture would come through to the inside wall. Are you sure there is no cavity?
If you are not altering the building itself do you need to show a veneer wall anyway? You could just set the overall thickness of the core. The different wall finishes do complicate things a little but should be relatively easy using the Wainscot (for the lower brick) and Chair rail for the brick ledge, interspacing this wall type between the full veneer parts of the walls.
Allan
Mr.Chesney--
'Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. I do appreciate your help.
I have decided to break this job into two different models: exterior and interior. That should make things a lot easier for me. I'm not trying to build this house, just visualize it for interior remodel and exterior landscape purposes. I have no intention of ever altering the roof, for example. My immediate interest is getting the exterior represented in order to be able to do some major landscaping changes next spring.
I have been trying to read the blueprints (which are in poor condition) as well as taking some simple exterior measurements. There are three basic exterior types: (a) all brick, (b) all stucco, and (c) a combination of both. I would like to draw the entire house as though it was either brick over wood, stucco over wood, or a combination of stucco and brick over wood. (Even though some of the lower level walls actually contain CMU cores.) Here are the particulars:
* The exterior bricks are 3 1/2" wide, 8" long, and 2 1/4" high.
* The stucco part consists of 1/2" insulated sheathing (against the stud) + 1/2" cement board + USG Durock Finish (stucco) System. The blueprints don't show any significant thickness of the stucco finish. It looks like it might be some sort of coating.
* Where the bricks meets the stucco at vertical interfaces, the brick extends 3 1/2" out from the stucco surface. (That tells me that the brick is flush with the stucco and that there is a 1" air gap behind the brick.)
* Where the bricks meet the stucco on the bottom side of a stucco region, they placed perpendicular to the stucco and at a slight angle to form a sill. They protrude out 4 7/8" from the surface of the stucco. (This tells me they were cut shorter than 8".)
Is this enough information to draw a sample wall section? If not please let me know what else you need.
Thanks again for your help.
Jim
Hi Jim,
If you are only creating the model for visualisation purposes, then it does not really matter what the wall configuration is inside - only the wall thickness is needed, so you could just use existing walls. I will make the veneer walls if you really need them for printed plans but from what you have said that is not the case.
You can easily get the effects you want using the Appearance tab to set the Exterior wall surface and where you have a wall with several sections that are different you can use the Trim tab Exterior /Custom / Wainscott and Chair Rail to create the other wall surfaces.
How I created the wall in the image with the low brick section a brick on top:
1. Using a thick wall insert two Breaks (right click), select the centre section and change the thickness to make it thinner. This thinner wall will sit in the middle of the adjoining thicker walls. Move it so that the inside edges align. It is easy to do if you use the Nudge (arrow keys) and set the Nudge distance (Program Settings menu) to just 1mm or fraction of inch.
2. On this centre section, in Properties, select the Trim tab, select Exterior from the drop down list and select Chair Rail. This sits part way up the wall, so set it at the height you want the brick top on the short wall. Select a profile and change its size to be the height and depth of a brick and change its Appearance to the brick texture you are using. (if the texture does not fit on the brick Chair Rail properly, use the Mapping option to resize the Texture and use the Mapping arrow keys to move the brick Texture so the 'mortar' is in the right place.
3. Still on the Trim Properties choose Custom and scroll down to Wainscot. Choose one, set its height and thickness and change the Appearance to the same brick. The last thing to do here is set the bottom selector to 'Bottom of Wall '(it will revert to Top of wall if you edit this again, so must be reset each time or the Wainscot will sit under the wall. NOTE: So that the wall thickness is consistent you must set the Wainscot thickness so that it makes up the difference between the thinner centre wall and the thicker side walls.
If there are vertical bricks that stick out you can just use the walls itself to make a slight nib or use a Column set to a brick texture.
I hope you can follow all that and it makes sense. If not just ask again where it is not clear.
Allan
Mr. Chesney--
I wanted to get back to you quickly to say "Thanks!". You really nailed what the exterior of my house looks like!
It will take me a while to absorb this. Plus, the grand kids are coming tomorrow to visit so I'll be otherwise occupied for a while. I'll get back to you after I've worked on this for a while to let you know how I'm coming along with it.
Thanks again for your help.
Jim
Hi Jim,
You will no doubt have questions when you come to do it so just ask at the time.
Enjoy the grandkids visit and will hear from you later.
By the way, please call me Allan - Mr Chesney makes me feel old! (I am, but..... )
Allan
Alan--
I've gotten back to the project after being away from it for some time. With your help, I have figured out how to get the look of recessed stucco surrounded by brick. However, I'm still struggling with how to create the "brick" chair rail (see attached test drawing file). Actually, for what I'm trying to accomplish, I think I will forget about the chair rail part. The brick Wainscot trick you showed me gets me where I want to be for doing exterior landscape planning. So thanks very much for that.
I will say that I had a great deal of difficulty establishing the locations of the breaks in the brick walls where the stucco walls start. There didn't appear to be any way I could enter numeric values for the locations of these breaks. What I ended up doing was drawing the walls in segments. I would start with a section of 6" thick brick wall and right click to finish it. Then I would draw a 4" thick stucco wall starting from the 6" brick wall. Next I reduced the thickness of the 4"stucco wall to 3", added the breaks (which were now easy to precisely locate), and nudged (per your instructions) the stucco wall back to be flush with the inside of the adjoining brick walls. Finally, I added the 3" thick "brick" Wainscot to the lower portion of the stucco and everything seemed to work out. I will still have to figure out how to face the exposed foundation below the stucco wall with brick but that is probably an option with the foundation that I haven't explored yet.
I do have a related/new problem. I have now modified both the default program "5/8 X 2 1/2" MDF Chair Rail" and the "4" Wainscot Panel #1" with the above activities and I don't have any idea how to reset them back to their default values for any future modeling work. I had assumed that these changes would just be associated with a particular project but they are not. They show up when I start an entirely new project. I have searched on the words "rest" and "default" in the Users Guide but I can't figure out how to re-set the program short of deleting it entirely and re-loading it. Related to this, is there a way I could have saved my "brick" Wainscot and "brick" chair rail so as to not overwrite the defaults?
Thanks again.
Jim Tenney
Hi Jim,
I am away from home at present so I have not been able to look at your file yet.
Breaking the wall does not have to be precise initially. Once you insert the break you can drag the two ends along to the right location.
If you Edit the Properties of a Wainscot or anything in the Catalogue, it will retain the edit. Won't if you edit it after it is inserted. What you need to do is right click in the Catalogue and select Add Element. The added element can be adjusted however you want, named accordingly and it too becomes part of your catalogue for future projects.
Allan
Allan, I understand now. First insert the Wainscot and THEN modify it to brick or create a new element and add it to the catalog with a unique name. I had to totally remove the program from by computer and re-install it but that wasn't a big deal. I noticed when I re-installed it that there was a tutorial file in the "extra's" on the program disk that has to do with the Catalog. Looks like something I should read right away. Thanks again. Jim
Hi Jim,
Looking at your test file it appears to me that you are virtually there.
All you need to do is lower the Wainscot (by setting the Offset to a minus figure to equal the Drop Face of the wall (1') and increase the height of the Wainscot itself to compensate.
The only other thing to do is lower the Chair Rail.
Make sure you are on the Exterior Surface. I notice you have a Wainscot on the Left Interior also, presumably by mistake.
Allan
Allan--
I would like your advice in how to go about drawing the concrete patio on the back of my house. It is roughly 11' by 70'. It is 2" below the top surface (the part you actually walk on) of the ground floor. However, relative to the terrain, it is flush with the ground at only one corner. The lot slopes from front to back as well as from side to side. The patio is over 4' above the terrain level on the corner opposite the one where it is flush with the ground. The patio has brick siding where it is above the terrain. It essentially looks like a pad sitting on top of a brick wall.
After drawing the basic house, I tried to install the terrain slope. I used a 15' rise over a 60' run (from the lake up to the back side of my house.) I then realized that I had accidentally buried my house 15' deep so I changed the ground floor building locations "a" dimension to 15'. (I hadn't inserted the slope from side to side yet because I am still learning how to add slopes. I will do that when I get the hang of it.) The model was starting to look ok in 3D. I then installed a pad on the back of my house at the ground floor (with the "hug terrain" box unchecked). It put the pad in a 15' deep hole behind the house!
I think the solution is to go back into the building locations and define a new location, at 15' (minus 2") above ground level just for the pad. However, I am stumped as to how to draw the brick skirting under it. Should I just draw a 5' thick pad and paint the brick veneer on it or should I draw a brick fence under it?
Thanks again.
Jim
P.S. I just thought of another possibility. Instead of adding a positive 15' slope from the lake up to the back of the house, perhaps it would be better to add a negative 15' slope from the back of the house down to the lake. That way, I wouldn't have to keep adjusting the building locations "a" parameters for both the pad and the ground level every time I need to make a correction to the slope. Is that a better approach?
Hi Jim,
Quote from: JimT on December 08, 2013, 12:59:51 PM
...the concrete patio on the back of my house. It is roughly 11' by 70'. It is 2" below the top surface (the part you actually walk on) of the ground floor. However, relative to the terrain, it is flush with the ground at only one corner...
This corner is what you need to work from - with a negative slope one way and positive slope the other way from this corner, so the negative and positive add up to the total slope over the full distance. This way your ground level and locations stay at zero.
However, since the land slopes in two directions, you cannot do this properly with the Slope tool as it is a one way slope. If you add a second one you will end up with odd ridges where they cross. To get multiple slopes you need to use the Plateau tool. This allows you to draw the contours of the land and get a constantly graduating slope. This post may help in understanding this: http://forums.turbofloorplan.com/index.php/topic,2119.msg9383.html#msg9383 (http://forums.turbofloorplan.com/index.php/topic,2119.msg9383.html#msg9383). Build the terrain up in small stages to get a graduated slope. Draw the plateau 'lines' very close together if the slope is steep (eg near a retaining wall) and wide apart where it is not steep.
For the concrete Patio I would just use an ordinary Floor and create the walls that support it on a separate location. Create a new Location for the Patio (eg name it Patio), that is 2" below your Ground floor. If your Ground Floor 'Floor Level" (- 'that you walk on') is set at the default 12", then make the Patio Location 'Floor Level' 2" lower at 10". Any outdoor furniture you insert on this location will then sit on the Patio top surface correctly. For the walls that support it, create another Location (eg name it Patio Walls) that is 4 feet lower again (plus the thickness of the Patio floor) and set the Wall Height on that location to 4'. When you draw the walls on that Location they will automatically be 4' high, so they will extend up to the patio floor and 'support' it.
This means you have two new locations in addition to your Ground Floor. The
Patio Location should have a 'Floor Level' (top surface) that is 2" lower than the Ground Floor's 'Floor Level' (eg 10" above Terrain zero level). The patio floor when you insert it on this location is say 6" thick, so the bottom of the patio floor is 4" (10" minus 6") above Terrain Zero. This means that the Floor Level for the
'Patio Walls' Location needs to be set to minus 3'8". With your Terrain still level, the patio walls would then stick through the Terrain by 4" and connect with the bottom of the patio floor. When you slope the Terrain you should get the effect you want, a brick wall with a concrete floor on top.
By the way, rather than fiddle with the Location floor levels to move them in relation to the Terrain, it is far easier to move the whole Terrain up or down by changing its position in Settings / Program Settings / Terrain. Even though you change this setting, Zero remains the reference point for all the Building Locations - all vertical levels count from zero. The Floor Level setting in Building Locations is the distance from zero to the top surface of the floor on that Location (where you walk), regardless of where the Terrain itself is, although the Terrain default position is zero.
I hope that helps with your questions and understanding of how it works. If anything is not clear just ask again.
Allan
Allan--
I understand your instructions w.r.t. creating the patio slab and supporting walls and about setting the baseline ground level. They were very clear. Thanks, again, for your help.
Also, thanks for the info about building up compound angle terrain slopes using the Plateau tool. I will definitely check out the link you provided.
Jim T