Multi-level condo and how to plan it?

[Jacynthe]

Hi everyone,

I'm a first-time user of Turbo Floor Plan or any kind of planning software to be honest and am on the 15-day trial to see if I can even make sense of this software before I spend cash on it. And so far, I'm having a little luck, but not MUCH with it.

I'm trying to "recreate" the floor plan of the new place I most probably will move to and I'm having a hard time understanding how I need to do it without making the building idiotically tall. Let me explain my problem here, keeping in mind that I don't have exact measurements as of yet but going by wild-guessing more than anything.

I'd say that the entryway is about 55" inches off ground level (4 concrete steps plus concrete stoop), and once you step inside, you are on a landing that offers about 4 steps to go down to the living room, or 4-5 steps to go up to the main floor. Once on that main floor, ceiling height is about 8', but the area over the living room is open which makes the ceiling height about 18'. Now, if you are onto the living room floor, you have about 3 steps that go down into the "sleeping area" as I will call it which has the bathroom and 2 bedrooms. that part is basically below the main floor and ceiling height is about 8'.

So should I treat this as 2 stories or 3 in this model? And how do I "cut away" the area over the living room to make it a cathedral ceiling?

I so wish I could show you a picture to better explain the layout but I don't have any as I just visited the place over the weekend and one of the reason I am trying to render this is so I can show my friends and family what the place looks like!

Thanks for any help you can offer and don't hesitate to let me know if I'm not clear enough. I am definitely no architect or anything!!

Jacynthe

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Jacynth,

Welcome to TurnbFloorPlan and the forum.

Well you have chosen one of the most difficult project to test out TFP in 15 days. Normally I would say to start with 4 walls and just practice to see how things work - they you would be ready to tackle more difficult designs.

Without some photos it is difficult to visualise, soI will just give some basic principles. Floor levels are determined essentially by wall heights and the height of the floors themselves. You first need to determine how many floor levels there are as measured from ground (zero) to the TOP surface of each floor - that is how many floors you need and then set the heights of the wall on each level. With the soil (Terrain) as zero, the Ground Floor "Floor Level" is basically the thickenss of the floor. The Second Floor level is zero + Ground Floor thickness + Ground Floor wall height + Second Floor thickness - all Floor Levels measured from the Terrain (zero) to the TOP surface of the floor so must include the thickness of the floor itself. Basements become a minus level.. All this is done in Settings / Building Locations.

Where one level opens into another you need to use the Room Divide tool to join the walls on the 'open edge' if that makes sense. The Room Divide tool is like an invisible wall.

It is essential to get these levels set right to start with, so hopefully that will get you started.

Allan

[Jacynthe]

Thank you Allan!

Yes, I like making life difficult for myself LOL.

I did that when teaching myself how to do websites way back when using frames, so why break a perfectly good circle and go easy here. 

I'll give this a try for sure!

[Jack Zimmer]

Hi Jacynthe,

You have some math problems based on number of steps you mention.

Max riser height of a step should be no greater than 8" ( most are around 7.5+").

So, 55" off the ground to landing doesn't add up with your step + landing total of 5 risers (including stoop) or 40". (4 steps + stoop = 5 risers?)

(ps. don't use the word Steps, actually count and use the word Risers as they define the total Stair height and floor elevations)

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Main Floor Location Setting

But lets say front door (split level entry) is at 55" and you go up 5 steps to Main Floor (5 risers x 8" = 40") or total from grade of 95".
So call it 96" or 8' off the terrain to top of first floor.

Bedroom Location Setting

Now you go down to lower level which is below first floor and where the bedrooms are. You want to check room height of bedrooms below Main level.
You say first go down from landing 5 steps to Living Room and then 3 steps to Bedrooms. 8 steps down + the 5 steps up to Main = 13 steps.

So from the Main Level down to Bedroom floor is 13 x 8 or 104".... subtract 96" or 8' for Bedroom ceiling height and your left with 8" for floor thickness at Main level (ceiling of Bedrooms).

Close but verify

While this is acceptable in some cases , I'd expect the main level floor to be 10" floor joists but that depends on the span.

All of this then is very close to working but you need to verify the exact number of risers and the exact heights of the risers.

Try these Settings

1 What I would do is make a new location setting that is 8' above the terrain and draw out your Main floor level.
2 Create a Bedroom level that is below grade by (-) 8" which would then match the 104" drop from  Main to Bedroom.
At this point check to see if in fact you have enough head room between floors based on floor joist thickness.

3 It is then just and exercise of defining the Entry Floor as 5 steps below Main floor.
4 Defining the Living Room at 4 steps below Entry.

The ceiling of the Living room is going to be defined by the roof pitch. It has no bearing on the Main floor location, it sounds like it is an independent space.

Good luck, this is going to be an exercise in patience, math and Building Location settings. It can be done in the program, it will just be hard for a newbie IF you try to rush and get it all right the first time.

Go slow, try one location at a time, use Sections to check progress.

Jack