How to edit wall length in plan view

[bradAK]

I'm a beginner at this software; just started on it tonight. I have Home Designer 8.0. I entered in my exterior walls and now I need to fine tune my wall dimensions. When I open the Wall Specification dialogue box and type in my exact wall length and then hit enter, my new wall length does not come through on my drawing. It seems to be snapping to a grid and I can't get it to work. I've tried dragging the end of wall symbol and it either snaps back to the original (and incorrect) length, or if I drag the wall symbol further, then it is too short or long (i.e. snapping to much). I've gone into Plan Defaults but that doesn't seem to help.

Any ideas for a newby?? Thx.

[David J. Potter]

Take a look at this video on my You Tube Channel please:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5smDg7bbtBs

DJP

[Kbird]

Try editing each wall's length as you draw it , rather than doing it after drawing them all as the wall wont change size if it is "attached" at the end to another wall already.( usually the right hand end moves ,if drawn clockwise,as the start is fixed i think). You can also try shortening the wall that is interfering so it isnt in the way , do your edit,then move the shorten wall over and re-lengthen it but it can be time consuming doing it this way if you have a complex floorplan.

[bradAK]

Thanks for the tips. I redrew my outer perimeter and edited each wall length before I moved on to the next wall section. That pretty much did the job. After completing the "circle", I still have two walls that insist on being 1" different than what I typed in, but that is a heck of alot better than what I had before. Thanks again. brad

[David J. Potter]

Provided your measurements or blueprints are accurate, you should be able to get accurate measurements in your plan file. If you are measuring an existing structure, you cannot count upon all angles being true and you often have to deal with varying wall thickness as opposed to the apparent "perfection" available in a virtual computer environment.

DJP