Build roof on only one section of the plan

[tescher]

Taking the advice of a roof expert on another thread, I turned off the Auto Rebuild Roof option so my roofs don't go completely haywire as I adjust walls. Now that I have the walls as I want them and the roof correct in one-half of the house, as I try to build the roof on the other half, the "Build Roof" process readjusts the roofs (completely incorrectly) on the rest of the house. How do I limit the Build Roof option to just the part of the house I am working on and leave the rest as it is?

[Elovia]

It is not immediately clear to me which Home Designer software title that you're using ...

If you're using HD Pro, then you will have manual roof plane tools to manipulate (and "correct" as desired) auto-generated roof planes; if you have this software title, I recommend watching David Potter's video tutorial on how to use the manual roof tools (hopefully he will post a link to it).

If you have any other Home Designer title, then you need to carefully and thoroughly review each and every setting on the Wall Specification dialog, Roof tab, for all walls upon which a roof plane is expected to bear; even doing so will not guarantee results as some roof configurations cannot be built solely using the automatic build roof tool (e.g., Dutch Hip).

The idea presented earlier, that you should turn off the Auto Rebuild Roof option was for once you have the finished roof in place, then adjust rooms and interior walls. The recommended sequence of build orders (if you do not have Pro) is to position your exterior walls first in order to get the roof lines as desired, and then turn off Auto Rebuild Roof option so that you can then muck about with the interior of the building and not inadvertently change the roof planes by doing so.

In short, if you have Pro then you can build roofs piecewise as you desire, but if you do not have Pro then you must build the entire roof at once (or automatically generate it as you go).

Please don't be offended when I say that I suspect the difficulties you're encountering are based on a lack of understanding on how the software works, and which settings need to be applied to get the desired results. I, and others here at the Hometalk forum would love to provide help, but we need more information on which to offer advice. We all had to climb the learning curve at some point in order to accomplish our design tasks, so we understand the sense of frustration that may creep in. Let us know which software title you are using (the capabilities vary from one title to the next), and show us what you've accomplished with a description (or image) of your setting dialogs that got you the undesired results that you wish to change.

I'm a bit confused on your statement that "Gable specs seem to be randomly ignored." Can you elaborate on this? Show us where you've assigned a gable setting that did not subsequently develop a gable ... the software is smartly programmed to avoid common design pitfalls (e.g., creating a valley where drainage would not occur or that would allow ponding of water against a wall) and it behaves in like manner, not always to the desired "broader vision".

[tescher]

Fair enough. See attached. I want a 2.5 x 12 gable roof on the garage. I have specified Full Gable on both non-bearing side walls. When I Build Roof, one result (among many) I get is a hipped roof on the garage, and the 12x12 gables on the main cabin go to 2.5x12, messing that up.

I have the Architect version.

[Elovia]

Have you tried the following? Open the Wall Specification dialog for the upper level front wall of the garage, and on the Roof Tab specify a 2.5/12 pitch. Do the same for the upper level back wall. Be sure to remove the (D), if present, in those input boxes. Then build your roof.

The software uses the roof pitch in the Build Roof dialog as the global default, but you can override that setting locally as described above for individual roof planes. [Edit: leave the default pitch in the Build Roof dialog at 12/12 so as not to change the roof planes of the main cabin.]

Hope this helps.

[tescher]

Well, this is the result after I tried what you suggested. Not exactly what I had in mind

[Elovia]

With all due respect, it looks like you have a hodge-podge of settings that need to be corrected. Make sure the upper floor end walls of your add-on are set to Full Gable. Make sure the front and back walls are not set as Full Gable. I'm not sure what you have going on on the backside, nor on the common wall between the main cabin and the add-on; it is difficult to tell from this perspective. See the image below.



I'm assuming that what you're looking for is a ridge that runs along the length of your add-on, parallel with the ridge on the cabin, but that it matches the pitch of the shed dormer shown on the near side. Is this correct?