@nd floor loft

[btruaxjr]

Im trying to design a log home with a second floor loft and cathedral over great room. I have the great room done but cant seem to get the second floor floor to appear. On my dollhouse view I have the gable wall and interior walls but no floor. Did I miss a step? I thought when I built 2nd floor and walls it would automatically be there. Is it because I took out the ceilings over the Great room to build the cathedral area. I left the ceilings in the bedroom areas down thinking that would leave the floor above.

[Curtis Johnson]

Did you build the roof on your first story walls before adding your 2nd story? If so, your 2nd story walls won't be obvious but you should see a ceiling in a X-section view (unless you told your room not to have a ceiling ... i.e., you'll have a cathedral ceiling). You will have to put in any 2nd story walls you'll need such as a railing wall that separates your loft from the Great Room.

The next thing you might run into if you do place a railing wall on your 2nd level, is that it won't be cut by the roof planes but will protrude through the roof on each side. There are some prior threads on this subject so if you are in fact doing a railing wall, you may want to look for the thread(s) where that has been discussed. I think if it were my project, I would probably create a wall on each side of the loft for some storage and then your railing wall (the railing) could tie into these walls without having to deal with the railing and roof issue.

[Curtis Johnson]

I see it is your first post ... welcome to the forum. I might not have directly answered your question about the floor. You need to build the 2nd floor to create your loft. Then, as noted in my post above, you need to add any 2nd story interior walls as required per your plan.

[Pat McNinch]

Almost all of my work is this style home. To elaborate, create an automatic second floor. In previous versions the least you could make it was 6" tall. In X1 I have been able to make it 0" tall. Divide the loft area ( railing ) call it bedroom, no ceiling. Over the great room call it open below, no ceiling. Check one more time that your wall height is still set at 0" or whatever you chose cause each time you divide rooms it will default to 97 1/8". As mentioned before loft railings will stick out of the roof ( that's one upgrade they're still strugleing with ). This should get you started. Pat

[Stacey]

Im trying to design a log home with a second floor loft and cathedral over great room. I have the great room done but cant seem to get the second floor floor to appear. On my dollhouse view I have the gable wall and interior walls but no floor. Did I miss a step? I thought when I built 2nd floor and walls it would automatically be there. Is it because I took out the ceilings over the Great room to build the cathedral area. I left the ceilings in the bedroom areas down thinking that would leave the floor above.

In every room you need 4 walls or railings or invisible walls to "close" the space and call it off as a room.

[btruaxjr]

OK I think Ive got the loft part but my railing shows up as an invisible wall in the attic level? Is it because of the wall heights to build loft?

[Tommy Blair]

OK I think Ive got the loft part but my railing shows up as an invisible wall in the attic level? Is it because of the wall heights to build loft?

At this point, you might have to post your plan to get better help or you could send me the plan and I'll be happy to look at it. You'll need to tell us what version of Chief you're using.

[btruaxjr]

That works except now all my walls in the loft are 0" high too. They are on layout and floor plan but only appear as layout on Dollhouse view. I have tried it on a simple loft and cannot get interior walls to show up. Am I missing something simple.
Bill

[Curtis Johnson]

bt:

You might get better help from us by zipping your plan and posting here. Are you sure you are on the right floor level ... your walls should show if they were visible when you drew them.

[btruaxjr]

I will try attaching plan.
Im using Home Designer 9
In the Dollhouse view I have the doors but no wall height, in the plan view I have both.

[Tommy Blair]

I'm sorry. I don't have that version.

[Curtis Johnson]

I looked at your plan with X2 and my comments on what I have seen without really checking everything are:

1. Delete the roof plane going through the Laundry ... this will close the hole in your Laundry room wall.
2. The door to the bedroom which the stairs covers should be moved to where the closet is ... just move the closet somewhere else.
3. For your main level great room area, select the room and in the structure tab, uncheck ceiling over this room (you have this as Open Below on the 2nd story).
4. You need to fix the newels for your railing around your balcony. You also need to uncheck the ceiling for the balcony room as well.
5. For your 2nd story rooms you have your ceiling heights shown as "0" ... you need to change this to have some value, even if your ceiling is cathedral, which is what I assumed you wanted. I checked the roof ridge height (about 296") and subtracted the 2nd floor height (109-3/4") and put in 186-1/4" for the ceiling height and on the structure tab I unchecked the ceiling for the bedroom and the closets. In X2 I would call your closets attic rooms and then rename them as closets ... the walls are really knee walls. You might want to move them in a tad as your closet door heights are right at the intersection with your roof system.
6. You may need supports for the exterior balcony/deck on the 2nd floor unless there will be beams/logs extending from your floor system to support it. In Idaho where I live all log homes have to be engineered so you might check into that for your area.
7. If that was my place, I would get rid of the wall between the dining and living areas on the main floor, especially since you don't have a ceiling there to support the top of it. I think the openess would be a better fit as well for that style of home.

I don't know that much about the program you are using so my observations so far are based on what I see with X2. Looks like you've come a long ways. Keep up your study of the program. There is a separate forum for your version while this forum is more geared to the professional versions of CA.

Good luck

[Curtis Johnson]

One last comment ... your bathroom would better serve anyone staying in the two main floor bedrooms if it were between them. You are losing about 28 s.f. of floor space with the hall going into the bathroom in its present location.

[btruaxjr]

Thanx, I know about the layout. Its what a customer brought me in a scketch. I do their version first then I walk them through it and show them why it dont work. From there we can begin incorporating their design into a workable design. I still cannot get the 2nd floor walls to work and the deck stairs come out on top of the deck rather than running up to deck, I thought adding the crawlspace might help but to no avail. Perhaps I need to add the grade. Thanx for the help, Ill try the other forum.
Bill