main floor elevation (height) change

[David J. Potter]

Curt,

We all went through the same learning curve, a big part of that is understanding that you use Home Designer as it is designed to work and not, necessarily how you might think it ought to work or should work. It just works as it works.

The main first floor level is ALWAYS ZERO INCHES, ALWAYS!!! The only exceptions are when part of the first floor is sunken or raised but the majority of the first floor should be left at zero inches in height (that is etched in stone by the hand of Jehovah, himself).

The second thing to remember is that the terrain plane as an object or construct is always set, in terms of its height to the house model and not otherwise (see rule one above for exceptions [they ain't none!])

You raise and lower the terrain plane to the house by way of the "Building Pad" input box in the "Terrain Specification Dialog".

Garages commonly have a slanted floor which is not commonly 3-D modeled in Home Designer software. What I do is to set the floor of the garage to its lowest point relative to the "zero inch" height of the first floor. Garages are commonly a little below the height of the first floor so you can simply drive in and out of the garage but torrential rains cannot just flow into the house.
So you compensate for that fact by setting the garage a lower floor height than the house.

THEN you set the terrain plane TO the threshold of the garage as a starting point. After adding elevation objects to modulate the terrain you always then check to make sure the terrain's height (as an object) is properly set, height-wise to the threshold of the garage.

You DO NOT, EVER, EVER, EVER, move the house to the terrain, you always move the terrain to the house, always, no exceptions.

You are welcome to ignore the above advice and go your own way; I just advise against it, unless you enjoy perilous adventures.

DJP