Recessed Window in wall with exterior stone veneer

[abink]

Hi,

I need to place a window in a 2x6 stud wall that has a 4" stone veneer, but the window frame should only span the width of the stud wall and not the stone veneer. Nevertheless I also need the stone veneer to cut out according to the window size.

Do I have to create two walls [one being the 2x6, the other being the stone veneer wall], or is there a way to "tell" the window to only be hosted in the 2x6 wall?

Thanks,
Axel

[Maximillian]

If you post a picture it would help. i usually dont use trim on a stone veneer wall. If you want to your could edit (duplicate) the window family and change the opening in the wall (in the family editor) to match the outside of the trim. Then it will cut that way when you place your windows in your project. Anyone else...?

[Gadget Man]

Well, if I understand correctly, you want just a standard window family, cutting an opening in a composite wall (constructed with a stud layer, a cavity layer - if any - and an external stone veneer).

In your window family you want to make your reveals to be only a certain width - just to cover whatever wall thickness you need - say, if your wall (for an argument sake) is 230mm (90mm studs + 50mm cavity + 90mm stone veneer) and you want to cover with your reveals only stud wall and a cavity (140mm) you would make your reveal 140mm wide (from the internal edge of the wall), while an opening cut would make a hole through the whole thickness of the wall.

Now, that answer is just a basic windows family situation - not different to any normal window placed in a composite wall, so I fear that I misunderstood your question (I think that this answer is too simple). If that's the case - sorry. :Oops:

[abink]

Sorry,

I've been out of the office the last days.

Here's a picture that hopefully explains what I am trying to achieve: You see the recessed window set in the stud wall. The wall to the right is one type that I'll call "stud + stone veneer". I've placed the same type under the window with only 3'-0" height, then put a wall on top of it that only has a stud layer (i.e. "stud wall") above that which now hosts the window.

I've cheated on this one because the stud wall is slightly longer than the window. If I align the "stud wall" with the "stud + stone veneer wall" the trim of the window would adjust to the width of the thicker wall, which I'm trying to prevent.

Thanks for your help,
Axel

[iru69]

Axel, you can achieve the look you want.

Two caveats.

1. It's going to take some work. You're going to have to modify your window family and it's going to take a little expertise with the family editor.

2. Even after you modify the window family, after placing the window in a wall, you'll have to manually enter in how far you want to hold the exterior of the window back from the front of the wall.

Unfortunately, there's no step by step guide, but here's the basic idea:
Open up a copy of your window family.

Create a length parameter for the "retraction".

Create a reference plane set back an inch or two from the exterior face of the wall (you might increase the thickness of the default wall in the family to give yourself more room to work.

Dimension from the exterior face of wall back to the reference plane you just created. Label the dimension with the "retraction" parameter you created.

Align the exterior face of the window frame with the reference plane.

You'll also need to change the window inset parameter dimension to be taken off your reference plane as well.

This will allow you to retract the face of the window frame from the exterior face of wall.

I know that probably sounds pretty complicated. I've attached a working example of a window that has this feature built in (the allowed file attachment size is too small for the full window family, so I had to purge it to the bare minimum).

[abink]

Irusun,

Wow, this is fantastic. Just what I'm looking for AND a great piece to study in order to improve my own budding family editing capabilities! Also, it goes beyond my needs since it also allows to create protruding window boxes, which I'm bound to run into eventually.

Question: I see your window family has a section called "Energy Analysis". At the class I recently attended my tutor said that Revit does not have an energy analysis tool. Do you need this feature for exporting to another software that will do the analysis and if so, which one? Or is it basically information that will show up on the window schedule for the engineer to do the calculation?

Thanks a lot,
Axel

[iru69]

I'm glad it's of some help!

I don't know much about the capabilities of "Energy Analysis" in Revit as a whole. I'm not aware of an energy analysis tool yet for Revit, but I believe using the API, one could be developed. I just use that category as a good place to park parameters related to energy that will show up in the window schedule (our permit applications require glazing calcs, etc.).

There is a shared parameter file (see attached), however I'm still experimenting with the need for this. I'm leaning towards taking them out just to reduce the complexity of the family, and I could just have the parameters in the project file, but it's also kind of nice that the schedule just gets filled in automatically as I place windows, so I'm still thinking about it.

[bgauthier]

WOW. I really like the way you built your window family. That's one of the next steps for me; the nested families. From what I understand, it can be very helpful

[iru69]

Yeah, the whole nested families thing works great. It obviously makes the window a little slower to load, but once a window is loaded, it works pretty well.

I had to strip out all the nested muntin and trim families to be able to upload it. So I've attached some of the Muntins as examples of how they work (there are more, but once again, too large to post). But if you use these as a template, it's easy to make new variations. Just load them into the window family and you should be able to select them from the drop down list under Muntin Types.

[iru69]

Same for Trim.

[bgauthier]

How do you integrate the trims and muntins to the window??? Through the window family???

[iru69]

Yes, just load them into the window family.

You'll then be able to select on the fly which muntins and trim you want displayed by selecting them in the window's properties. The default is "muntin-none" and "trim-none". The trim is an instance parameter and the muntins are a type parameter.