Need Help Drawing Roof & Walls

[rocky99930]

Hi,

I'm a new user and have gone through hours of trial and error and can't get to where I need to out of the gate with simply creating the building.  My home has the attached exterior design with uneven front and rear walls and a sloping front gable roof with also an uncentered apex (pictures attached).  The roof also as an uneven elevation with the rake coming down the approx. middle.

I know this has to be a very simple design, but I'm struggling.  Any help would be much appreciated!

Thank you,
Tim

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Tim,
Welcome to the Forum!

Actually it is not a simple design and I can understand you getting lost a little if you are fairly new to the program.

Hopefully a few general observations will point you in the right direction.
With this type of structure, where a roof spans several floor levels, it is critical to get the Building Locations correct before you start (Setting Menu).

You obviously have at least 3 floor levels, Foundation, Ground and Second.  Set the relevant a wall heights for each and set the various floor levels. The Floor Level is the height of the surface of the floor from the Terrain or ground level. So...

1. The Foundation would be a minus figure (eg  -2400mm or -8'),

2. Ground Floor would be whatever the floor is above the Terrain (Terrain is zero). If the floor is 300mm (1') thick then this is the Floor Level for the Ground Floor (the default is 300mm - change this to the height of your floor above the terrain).

3. Second Floor is again the height above the Terrain.  So it is the thickness of the Ground Floor (300mm or 1') plus the height of the walls on the ground floor (2400mm or 8') plus the thickness of the floor of the Second Floor (eg 300mm or 1')  - so 300 + 2400 + 300 (3000) or 1' + 8' + 1' (10').

4. You may also need to Add a fourth level.  The front view roof is at two levels - does this mean that the wall heights in the two sides of the building are different?  If they are, you may need to add a separate location for this, even if all you insert on it is the roof. Name this new location Higher Roof for example and make the settings the same as the Second Floor but with the higher wall height. Now when you insert a roof it will sit higher than the right hand side roof.

Note:  Make sure walls are set to 'Auto Extend' to the roof so they will fill in the gable ends.

The roof automatically sits on the walls so depending which location you insert the roof will determine its height.   There are several ways of doing this but this what I would try first.

5. In Plan view, select the Second Floor (to draw the right hand side roof).

6. Select Roof By Picking Points (arrow at the side of roof icon) and draw the shape of the roof as a rectangle, with the centre line of this rectangle positioned where the apex of the roof would be - this will not over the whole house since the roof is obviously longer on one side than the other. Don't worry about that at present - just make sure the centre line of the roof rectangle is where the ridge of the roof should be and the long sides of the rectangle are where the top of the second floor walls would be. At this point the roof will be a hip. Change the left and right end walls to Gable.  You will now see the ridge line right across the house - make sure it is in the right position by draging the back edge of the roof in or out to make the ridge sit is the right place relative to the house walls.  Now you need to extend the back edge of the roof to cover the rest of the back of the house and make it go down to the lower levels of the building.  So...

7. Select the back edge of the roof (make sure just this edge is selected - one green arrow only), right click and select Move Edge / Adjust Support Height.  This will extend the roof and lower it on that edge only and will leave your ridge in the right place. (See image)  Note this is assuming you are using V15 not an earlier version. If you are using an earlier version ask again as this function was not available previously.

8. If the front of the house is the Ground Floor and the Dormer is the Second Floor, then you will need to drag the fromt edge of the roof out in the same way as the back edge, so that the roof extends down over the front of the house.

9. For the front left hand side higher roof, choose the new 'Higher Roof' Building Location and insert the roof by picking points.

10. Select all edges EXCEPT the front edge (front edge arrow is red) and change the 3 select to Gable adjusting the overhang as needed.

11.  If the other roof is in the way inside the building you can right click and use Cut Opening to remove it, setting the edges ofthe 'cut' to gable.

I hope this all makes sense, that there is enough detail and you can follow the general idea. If you need more detail or get stuck just ask again.

Allan

[rocky99930]

Eureka Allan!!

Thank you for the precise instructions.  I was able to define the walls and roof without a problem.  I'm experiencing some difficulty though getting the different roof elevations recognized (left side higher then right).  When I tried making this change to the new "Higher Roof" it placed the roof in the sky.  Also, the dormer is not coming out right with the flat descending roof.  The dormer is part of the master bath and sitting room if that matters (not just a decorative structure).

Thanks again Allan...great to have some doors opened!

Tim

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Tim,

The roof is inserted at the top of the walls on the relevent floor so the Building Location setting is wrong in some way.  It probably does not matter - if you select the Properties for that roof (Hip edge) you can change the Support Height on the Support and Details tab. This will lower the roof. If necessary you may have to change the Location setting but that may require deleting the roof and inserting it again.

Is the Dormer strictly a dormer (just a window in the roof) or does it indicate another floor level?  What problems are you having with it? Post a JPG to illustrate the issues if possible, as that will make it a lot easier to 'diagnose'

Allan