Stem wall & footing as one object

[jwilhelm]

I think it would be extremely usefull to be able to have a wall type with a footing as a parameter, that is draw the wall and the footing is attached and you can change its width/depth, same with grade beams with piles attached, Revit needs more "automated" routines like this so we dont have to "piece" everything together. I have found foundations to be one of the most challenging things to modell, particularly if they step. If the footings were attached it would be much easier.

[Steve_Stafford]

You can make quite complex foundation objects by adding sweeps to a wall style.

[christopher.zoog51272]

You can make quite complex foundation objects by adding sweeps to a wall style.

Ahh yes but they don't miter so well (at least they didn't used to i'll have to check in 6.0)

i've been using flloors as of late

[Steve_Stafford]

You know I had forgotten about that...I used linework to make the foundation plan "look" the way I wanted...here's a screen shot of basically what I did...but you're right...the miter's still aren't clean at tee intersections unfortunately.

[gregcashen]

I personally think, and have relayed the request to the factory, that Revit needs a dedicated foundation tool that understands the difference between continuous footings, spread footings, retaining walls, grade beams, etc. Foundations are a not-cheap part of most of my buildings, and the ability to accurately schedule and detail them is very important. Using sweeps for footings is a cludgy workaround that impedes the structural functions of Revit. Although, steve, my suggestion to Revit was something along the lines of a dedicated foundation sweep tool...so in a sense, we are on the same page. It works cleanly, just not intuitively right now.

[Kroke]

Couldn't have been said better. I agree completely and have no doubt Revit can handle such a thing with ease, making it even better than it already is. I struggle with foundations as well.

[gregcashen]

They're looking into it. If you have specific requests, post them here. Be specific about what you want out of the foundation tools. I'll put these ideas into a concise "wish" and forward directly to the appropriate person.

As a starting point, here are my wishes:

...I can do most of what I need with the stock components, tools and either in-place or external families. That said, it would be nice to be able to draw a typical foundation in 2D and 3D without using the floor or wall tool. I think it should be a separate tool, maybe like the hosted sweep tool, but smarter...I typically think of revit tools as building the virtual model in the same way that a contractor would build the building. I don't think this is currently acheived in Revit's wall or foundation tools. Think of a CMU wall with a pilaster in it. In real life, the pilaster is not a separate thing from the wall, but in revit it is...I now draw CMU pilaster as a 16" wall in between sections of a 8" wall. This way the surface patterns can align properly, etc.

I would like the foundation tools to allow me to bascially set the wall bottom level, including offsets, and then just "pick" it and draw a foundation along the bottom of the wall. it should know to go vertical at steps and if I need to put an integral spread footing in the foundation, it should be part of the same foundation...i.e., locked to the sweep or whatever it is and remain schedulable as a foundation.

Also, foundations should have a setting to appear in hidden line style in plans and elevations...without the workarounds...this is standard drafting practice.

...overall I am satisfied with the foundations. I WOULD like a retaining wall tool that was separate from the wall tool that allowed battered walls, toe width, heel width...As it is now, you draw a retaining wall as a wall and floor or as two walls...this is not intuitive and does not follow the real world of how it would get built.

[cccm1863]

Should adding rebar to a footing be part of a wish list or is this accomplished easily elsewhere?

[gregcashen]

This has been discussed, and to me, the real question becomes, how accurately can you model rebar in concrete in a program like Revit anyway? If you can't get down to the level of being able to specify bend angles at corners, columns, etc, and you can't do spiral reinforcing in a column, then modelling a straight section of bar in a footing is kinda silly. You will only have some things modelled right...the rest will be wrong or not modelled at all. So, you are adding the overhead of having the extra information in there, throughout the model, even though you will probably only see it in a few views and it won't be entirely accurate anyway.

I would be more likely to try and create a detail component that was parametric and could add or subtract bars based on your needs...then just place that component over the section like you do with the cut section of a double top plate.

Revit is not a concrete detailing program. These programs do exist, but they are pricey. Same with steel. It's probably quicker to just do it the old fashioned way. You could, of course, create separate foundation wall types for the different amounts of rebar so that you can schedule the rebar by scheduling that wall type and filtering on the rebar shared parameter...if you needed to be able to do down-to-the-dollar cost estimating straight out of Revit.

[cccm1863]

I only use Revit (new user) and dont know any other drafting programe. How would one do a rebar detail using revit. 2D sketches perhaps?