Soffit Bug?

**lgswe** · 09-04-2013, 06:03 AM

I have a hip roof on a porch that has two different pitches. The front pitch is 2/12 while the pitch on the sides are 5/12. As you can see in the attachment the soffit follows the line of the hip ridge. Would this be considered a bug? What is the best way to work around this? My thought is to raise the soffit on the 5/12 pitch sides and place a p-solid as a soffit at the correct elevation and fill in the gap. This , of course, is a real PITA. I'm hoping this happens with everyone and not just me. On this particular model I've had some weird things going on with the soffits on other areas of the model. I know I could just not look at it, but it's items like this that really bug me. I also know that Scott would probably say "GET OVER IT!"

**dshall** · 09-04-2013, 06:40 AM

Originally Posted by lgswe

I have a hip roof on a porch that has two different pitches. The front pitch is 2/12 while the pitch on the sides are 5/12. As you can see in the attachment the soffit follows the line of the hip ridge. Would this be considered a bug? What is the best way to work around this? My thought is to raise the soffit on the 5/12 pitch sides and place a p-solid as a soffit at the correct elevation and fill in the gap. This , of course, is a real PITA. I'm hoping this happens with everyone and not just me. On this particular model I've had some weird things going on with the soffits on other areas of the model. I know I could just not look at it, but it's items like this that really bug me. I also know that Scott would probably say "GET OVER IT!"

I can't imagine why this is happening, of course you could post the plan. I would think that if the soffits were flat, you would not have this issue. If the soffits were sloped, I suppose I can imagine a bit of a glitch.............. I doubt this is a bug but I could be wrong.

**Curtis Johnson** · 09-04-2013, 08:52 AM

Larry:

I am not sure I would call this a bug. I think it is more an issue of how Chief is programmed to connect roof planes when there are two different pitches involved. You have probably already noticed that Chief wants to make the front roof plane's overhang double of what it is on the sides ... this is just the way the geometry works. As soon as you make the overhang on the front something different, then chief has to change the intersection line of the roof planes and the soffits follow suit. I think you will have to live with this and deal with it in other ways (unfortunately). Maybe this is something worth posting in the suggestion forum. Obviously, you need to keep the front roof plane at a lower pitch to clear the 2nd story windows. I suspect you may be trying to match the side roof planes' pitch to the 2nd story roof planes' pitch for look and/or symmetry.

**lgswe** · 09-04-2013, 09:13 AM

Scott....The model should look familiar. It is a revision of an earlier model you helped me with on a couple of subjects. I'm refering to the front porch soffit.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20Rev%204.zip

**dshall** · 09-04-2013, 09:18 AM

The drop box link does not work.

**lgswe** · 09-04-2013, 09:23 AM

Curt... I will make a suggestion for a fix (?) in the next day or so. Do you have a better thought for a work around? I didn't have a problem with the overhang as you mentioned. Maybe because I built all my roofs manually. The 5/12 pitch does match some other pitches on the model, but not on the front of the model. This project is a complete remodel with additions to the home. It would be less espensive for the home owner to have started from scratch. Also much easier for me.

**lgswe** · 09-04-2013, 09:27 AM

Scott.....Here it is again. Hope this works. I don't know what the problem is.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20Rev%204.zip

**dshall** · 09-04-2013, 10:45 AM

Larry, I took a look, did vid, will post when done, nothing new in vid so don't waste your time with it, I understand now what you are referring to, I don't think I could classify it as a bug, I just don't think CA programmed for this type of situation, if I figure out a good solution I will let you know, until then, if important I suppose a psolid (ugh) is the fix. Thanks for posting. Or live with it.....

**dshall** · 09-04-2013, 11:11 AM

Hey Hey Hey Larry, I went to taco bell, got a few crispy tacos al fresco, the juices started flowing, the brain started working, here is the solution..... open the offending roof plane DBX, OPTIONS<BOXED EAVE, uncheck DEFAULT TO OVERHANG, change number to 30", and all is well................ Taco Bell baby! If you ever have another question, go to Taco Bell, order a couple of Tacos and the answer will come to you soon.

**lgswe** · 09-04-2013, 11:30 AM

Scott...Thanks, you're the man. Wish I had a Taco Bell close. The only thing that would come to me at a Taco Bell would be Tums.

**dshall** · 09-04-2013, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by lgswe

Scott...Thanks, you're the man. Wish I had a Taco Bell close.

Hey, just redid vid, will post when done, good stuff came out of this, thanks Larry

**Curtis Johnson** · 09-04-2013, 12:24 PM

Larry:

I just selected the walls and set the roof pitches and let Chief build the roof. Even though the default overhang was 18", Chief bypassed that and joined the roof planes at/over the outside corners of the walls, which caused the front roof plane to have a 36" overhang ... but the soffits built correctly with the miter at the corner. I won't venture a "work around" until I get to test Scott's suggestion ... or watch the video. If what he did works, no reason for a WA.

**Glenn Woodward** · 09-04-2013, 06:46 PM

Curtis,

If you are building auto roofs, there are a couple of settings in the Build Roof default dbx that control how the eaves build.
Have a look on the Roof tab for Same Roof Height at Ext. Walls and Same Height Eaves.

It looks like you have Same Roof Height at Ext Walls checked.
If you check Same Height Eaves, the overhangs are the same size - gives the same result as Larry's (with the same problem).

**Curtis Johnson** · 09-04-2013, 08:52 PM

Glenn:

I am not sure what I had checked/unchecked when I did my little test but I did get a 36" soffit for the 2.5/12 front roof plane and 18" soffits for the side roof planes and a perfect miter of the soffit through the outside corners of the railing walls and no gaps or holes in the soffits when viewed from below.

I tried to do what Scott suggested and I ended up with triangular holes in the soffits on the sides near the two front corners. Now I am wondering if Scott had holes in his soffits (and just didn't see them) or whether the soffits filled in properly. I didn't look at Larry's plan - just worked on a test model. I guess I will wait to see his video. Here's 3 images from my test of Scott's solution: