Exterior wall - how would you do this

[raddis]

OK.
We are starting our FIRST Revit project. Wish me luck.
We are going to begin by re-documenting a project to see what the differences are between using ADT/AutoCAD and using Revit, so I will have lots of questions over the next few weeks.

Also, we must use Worksets, as I will have 3 people on the same project. I'm going to leave them "undefined" initially, to see if that works for us.

My first question relates to the attached jpegs. We have an exterior brick veneer wall with deeply recessed openings. I don't yet know how to create returns (wraps?) at windows and doors (these are called "endcaps" in ADT), but I was thinking that I might just draw the Exterior Brick and Interior Stud wall as two separate walls. I'd create Openings in the brick and draw returns at these openings, then insert the windows into the stud wall only.

What would you guys do?
Also, would I create a vertical reveal for and expamsion joint (still learning about reveals).

[Chris DiSunno]

I would create a wall type with both walls if the cavity is always the same. You can create another wall type for the wall with the window. The key here is your wall joins. If I recall ArchDesktop had prefrences as to the join importance of a part of the wall, REVIT does too. They are inherrant in the type of element you are choosing (Finish 1, Finish 2, Structure).

A reveal is a good way to make the expansion joint.

[greg.mcdowell]

I don't know about the all-in-one wall type for this... it looks like there's more going on here than can be easily managed with this approach (multiple thickness of the backup wall, the way the brick returns in, etc.). I think I'd go with separate walls and Join them together as appropriate...

Reid, you can have a bit more control over how the materials wrap in the Door, Window, Opening Families. Use 2 Reference Planes with Wall Closure checked (one for exterior, one for interior). You won't have nearly the same level of control as you're used to in ADT... though if I'm wrong I'd love to be shown <nudge-nudge>.

[architeach]

I might be missing something but this seems to be pretty easy to achieve. I too went through the troubles of wall joins in ADT but since we switches to Revit back in release 5 we haven't missed it at all.

I think you were heading the right direction with just using one wall style.

This example is made with two wall styles. One for the wall with the doors and another wall with the brick. The fill-in wall between is the same wall style as the one with the doors. The "endcaps" or wraps as they are called in revit are controled in the wall style editor. Usually you can get them to clean up correctly by playing with the wrapping settings under the "edit assmemly" interface. You may also need to use the "edit wall joins" button to keep certain walls from automatically cleaning up when you don't want them to. Hope this helps.

[Dimitri Harvalias]

The "endcaps" or wraps as they are called in revit are controled in the wall style editor. .
What layers of a wall style return is controlled in the wall style editor. Where they wrap to is controlled by the family that creates the opening. Each window/door/opening family can have two 'wall closure' ref planes.

[architeach]

Good point, I wasn't very clear.
Thanks!

[raddis]

Thanks for the thoughts.
Will play with it.
I'm leaning towards the two separate walls. This allows the brick to run full height of building, adding the stud backup from floor to slab underside.

Reference planes: could you clarify this a bit? Is it in the opening style ? Sometimes I get a nice mitered brick return at the opening, and sometimes just a blank end on the exterior wall, with the course lines stopping.

[architeach]

Basically you can edit a door, window, opening, or any wall based object and add two reference planes, one for the interior finish to return and one for exterior finish. These reference planes will need to defined as "wall closure" reference planes. You do this by clicking on the "wall closure" box in the element properties interface for the reference plane. This tells the wall you place the object into to return the exterior and/or interior face to this location. You have to make sure that you tell your wall style to wrap at the insert of an object. This is done in the "type properties" or "edit assembly" interface. This works great for returning brick at doors and windows or for creating really deep jambs for precast. Does this make sense?