Basic drafting knowledge

[dean.j.claxton]

I'm curious as to how one would go about drawing a multi-level home, using Revit.

In particular, the allowances between levels. For example, with a 2 level dwelling with ceiling height of 2400mm, I imagine that the levels in Revit are set to say 2700mm to allow 300mm for the floor joists etc of the second level?

ie. Is it normal practice to set the levels to 2700mm, draw all walls (exterior brick veneer and interior timber framing) at 2400 for both level 1and level 2 floor plans, then insert a 300mm thick floor for level 2?

Would this be the correct approach?

I real life, the first level 2400mm timber frame would be erected on the concrete slab, the level 2 beams/joists/particle board floor would sit on that, then the level 2 2400mm frame, and lastly the roof trusses. The Brick veneer would start at the ground and go right up the outside - I'm just trying to get my head around how I'd do this in Revit - would I have to model the brick veneer as 2 separate walls to do this?

Or for the model, would it be normal to just join the 1st level wall to the underside of the 2nd level, and draw all the detail as a separate drawing?

I hope my post makes sense :)

Many thanks
Dean Claxton

[beegee]

Dean,

One of Revit's great advantages is that you don't need to worry about that level of detail at the start.

Lets say you assume a 2400 mm ceiling to the ground Floor and a 300 thick floor and 2400mm from that floor to the Upper Level ceiling.

You place Levels at Ground (Level 1 = 0 ) than at 3000 mm then at 5400 mm ( Upper Ceiling )

You would start drawing all your brick veneer external walls to extend to the Upper Level ceiling and to start at Ground Level. You place a 300 thick floor at Level 2.You would draw you ground level interior walls at say 2400 mm and then attach all of them to your floor. You draw you upper level walls and attach them to your ceiling level.

OK, lets say you now decide that your Ground floor ceiling should be 2700mm and your upper floor ceiling 2500 mm. All you do is adjust those level markers. All wall and floors adjust automatically ( parametrically ) , as do your elevations, sections 3D sketches and schedules.

You may then decide that you upper floor only needs to be 250 mm thick. You edit the properties of your floor and, magic, everything else adjusts again also.

Get the idea ? It still brings a grin to my face.

[dean.j.claxton]

Ok - cool. I assume with your level 1 set to 3000mm, you are also allowing for 300mm thick slab, 2400mm frame, then 300mm floor above?

Out if interest, what is a normal sort of allowance between floors? Is 300mm a little too much?

I'm wanting to do renovations on my home, and looking to use Revit to do the entire plans etc such that they are suitable to submit to the local council (Redland Shire in Queensland). Do you think that this is a possible task for a novice such as myself? ie. I'm not an architect (but wondering whether I should perhaps hire one for a few hours to bounce ideas off!). As such I'll have to find whether educational Revit pricing will apply, and what (if any) restrictions that brings.

Thanks :)
Dean

[kimheaver]

You place Levels at Ground (Level 1 = 0 ) than at 3000 mm then at 5400 mm ( Upper Ceiling )

You would start drawing all your brick veneer external walls to extend to the Upper Level ceiling and to start at Ground Level. You place a 300 thick floor at Level 2.You would draw you ground level interior walls at say 2400 mm and then attach all of them to your floor.

Hi Beegee,

Just a query on the above, (I'm learning so don't take this as any criticism, just trying to understand the rationale), I would have thought the natural way would be for a level at the ground floor ceiling, still taking the exterior walls to the upper level but the ground floor internal walls would have been constrained to the ceiling level with the floor filling between ceiling & next floor level. Why do you set the ceiling level via the floor thickness from the upper floor level.

Thanks,
Kim

[beegee]

In the example, I was showing that the floor thickness ( Floor + Ceiling structure ) could change and the walls would remain attached to the ceiling ( floor ). Remember your floor is an element made up of layers of finish structure ceiling etc. It is typically associated with a floor level, not a ceiling level.

You could have a level for a ceiling, independent of the floor , and walls could be attached to that. The floor element could then change thickness, but the walls would remain attached to the ceiling and the space between the underside of the floor and the ceiling would vary.

Hope that makes sense.