Wall Covering question revised

[Bill B]

When I open a room spec and display wall coverings, it gives me three different settings. I'm unsure about what the program is asking me to do. How do I set (1) either the edit, defaults or (2) the room spec dialogue so that all walls are a single color. Thanks, Bill.

[Elovia]

Bill,
The walls should be a single color by default. You should be able to change the default color of all walls in a room in the Room Specification dialog on the Materials tab under the Walls category.

If you want to change a single wall's color in a room, open that wall's Wall Specification dialog and change either the Exterior Wall Surface or Interior Wall Surface on the Materials tab. This can be tricky knowing which is the Exterior and which is the Interior surface of an interior wall. If you have (S)tart and (E)nd indicators turned on ... Preferences -> Edit -> checkbox for (S)tart and (E)nd Indicators ... then the Interior Surface will be the right-hand surface if you're traveling from Start to End along the wall. See the image below for clarification.



The Wall Covering tab in the Wall Specification dialog again requires that you know which surface is the Interior and which is the Exterior. What you're specifying therein are portions of the wall as you define them. You have three inter-dependent parameters. Let's look at some example numerical settings. I'll start in a room with a 109 1/8" Ceiling Height (B) with a Finished Ceiling Height of 107 5/8" (F).

By default, the Wall Covering tab may be empty. If you click on the "Add New..." button, you will add a new wall covering, and you will be asked to select a material from the library in a pop up dialog. Once you choose an appropriate material for your wall covering, default values should be something like the following: Top To Ceiling = 64 1/2", Height = 8", and Floor to Bottom = 35 1/8". If you change the Height value, the Top To Ceiling value will decrease and the Floor To Bottom value will stay the same. If you change the Top To Ceiling value, the Height will stay the same but the Floor To Bottom will change. Basically, you're telling the software where to place a band of color on the wall with respect to the width of the swath (i.e., Height) and its position on the wall (i.e., Top To Ceiling, or Floor to Bottom). Notice that the three values will add up to the Finished Ceiling Height.

If, by chance, you were to add a second swath of material to the wall and IF the two swaths overlapped, then the one that will be shown to full Height will be the lowest number of the two ... meaning if the first material added was 1: Red, and the second material added was 2: Yellow, then the Red would appear at full Height value while the visible portion of Yellow would appear sticking out from behind the Red.

You can use the Wall Covering tab in either the Room Specification dialog or a single Wall Specification dialog for different scopes of coverage.

If you only want a single color on a wall, I highly recommend that you make that change in the Material tab rather than the Wall Covering tab.

If, by chance, you have already placed a Wall Covering in the Room Specification dialog, but you want to remove it from one wall ... then you will need to delete the wall covering from the Room and then apply the wall covering only to those selected Walls upon which you want the wall covering to appear.

I hope this is clear enough to make sense and be of help.

[Elovia]

After re-reading the answer I gave yesterday, I realize I didn't actually answer the question asked.

If you simply must, or are determined to change a wall to a single color using the Wall Coverings tab in the Room Specification dialog, then you'll want to change the settings such that the Height value is same as the value shown for the Finished Ceiling on the Structural tab, and the Floor To Bottom value is zero.

Good luck.

[Bill B]

Elovia - thank you very much. That answers my question. cheers, bill.

[Bill B]

Elovia, following your instructions, I was able to place tile 84" up a shower wall. There are three walls to be covered with the tile over a rectangular shower pan.
Here is what I did.
I broke the interior wall along the long wall (See the update below for reference terms - this was the North Wall). I selected and opened that (North) wall section, adjusted the Height to 84", selected wall coverings (tile), verified it in the Materials list and it worked perfectly.
However, when I used the same steps to break the wall at the ends of the shower walls, the tile wall coverings do not appear.
Any suggestions are most welcome. cheers, bill


Update: To provide a frame of refence, let's call the length-wise wall of the shower North, the bottom end West and the plumbing end East. The standard sliding glass enclosure doors are South.
At the bottom end of the shower (West), there is a short wall for a linen closet. I deleted that wall, rebuilt it and then applied the 84" high tile. Worked just fine.

However, on the long wall of the bathroom (East), which includes the end of the shower with the plumbing/shower head, I deleted the break wall, then inserted it again. The tile still does not appear on this end of the shower. ?? I also need to change the East section, North section and West section walls from drywall to cement board/green board. That change worked correctly on the long wall of the shower (North) and the new short wall (West) at the end. It does not work on the "break wall" (East). Ideas?? cheers, bill.

[Elovia]

Bill,

I'm not 100% certain of the cause of the difficulty that you're encountering; it could be any number of causes that have not been, by nature of the question, fully described. However, I am willing to make a suggestion based on my understanding of what you're trying to achieve.

Rather than break the wall(s), why not enclose the shower space with a very thin (i.e., 1/16" thick) invisible wall? From what I envision from your description, you've created a shallow yet wide U-shaped space with three walls and across the opening of which you've placed a glass shower enclosure, and that enclosed space requires decorative tile trim. I suggest closing the U with a very thin invisible wall so that you can define a room within the enclosure ... and then you can apply your wall covering choices to the walls of the room.

Hope this helps.

[Bill B]

Elovia, it seems that Pro has an "order" in which it wants things to occur. I fixed the problem.

Here is the lesson learned.

Create the walls, define the breaks, apply the wall/materials covering before you do anything else.

I deleted the previously defined walls, re-installed them and applied the coverings - works just fine.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful suggestions - they got me on the right track. cheers, bill.