Wall Styles - How far do you go?

[rlwade.68242]

We are having an internal debate in our office about wall styles and how indepth do you go requarding the many different types that you can make. First of all our project types are very large up to 1million sf plus so as you can imagine in any given project we could have 100 different wall types depending on sizes, finishes, cores and fire ratings.

So far we have come up with three different options.
1. Create a wall type for every different condition and just let it go. (lots of wall types) but allows us to let the model cordinate with the spec software (we are starting to impliment BSD Spec link and when it links with the model it will then see the materials) and we can also do quantity takeoffs in the future.
2. We have created a wll type with checkbox parameters that allow us to minimize the amount of differnet wall types by letting the wall tags use the parameters to add inforamtion. For example if a wall is high impact gyp then we check the box and the tag shows HI. If it has sound insulation check the box and it shows S on the tag. The drawback is of course it can't see these tags for material quantities or specs but at this point we are not a construction company and we don't get into this level of cost take off.
3. Keep the wall types even more generic by just doing the minimum types determined by actual thicknesses and core type and letting the room finish schedule and specs call out the finishes and substrate. For example the wall type would be a 5/8"_6" MS_5/8". The room schedule would then say it is a tile wall or a high impact wall. Then the specs would futher describe the finishes and substrate.

Everyones thoughts would be really helpfull...Thanks.

[ryan_borszich]

I would definitely go with the checkbox method. I have been doing something similar on my project, and it seems to be working very smoothly. Just be sure to add some sort of hidden text in the wall tag family. Without this you will end up with a ? in the tag when it is reading a blank parameter. Its just another Revit thing.

[twiceroadsfool]

For us it goes like this:

1. Different materials = Different wall types. Even different types of Gyp.
2. Different Fire ratings = different tpyes of walls. The same 7.25" construction may have different ratings in some areas. We treat it as such.
3. HEIGHTS of finishes we dont make new walls for. Instance parameterized Height value indicators. But this MAY change when we move beyond 2D deliverables. Right now there just isnt a plausible ROI to unclok the finish layers and drag them around in section for production work.
4. Bases/finish treatments arent part of partition types, but if we use them as such in Revit then we make the wall types with and without.

It creates a lot of wall types, yes. But if youre organized, its not difficult to manage by any means.

[dgreen.49364]

rlwade...we use a system very similar to your number 2. We use check boxes for things like, wall extends to deck above, water resistant gyp one side or both sides, sound batt insulation and so on. Then we show those columns within our wall schedule. We have individual revit models for wall types, one model with all 3 5/8" stud wall types one for all 6" stud wall types and so on. Then we copy and paste needed walls from those models into our projects as needed. It's a lot of up front time to set up but once it's completed, it is very organized and easy to use.