Need help getting started. Crawl space and wall height.

TL:DR You’re a nut and its a crazy undertaking…but just crazy enough to work!

Chris, if you are serious about wanting to become a building designer then I would suggest that before you put serious time into learning the actual drafting of plans that you invest substantial time into TEACHING your self the building codes that buildings are designed by.

You will learn nothing about designing homes by trying to interpret Cadsoft’s CANADIAN interpretation of building codes and how they apply to the construction of a building in Tennessee. Much of the ‘out-of-the-box’ in-program information and settings are not correct for construction anywhere, though perfectly acceptable for rendering where accuracy is less important.

I would also HIGHLY recommend that you research the LAWS in your state regarding ARCHITECTURE….most all states have some regulations regarding who can design what, without certification. As example, where I am at I can design and engineer any size residential home up to 3 stories, and some light commercial without any sort of training or stamp. Other states might require you be a certified architect to design anything at all…it varies. I don’t know about Tennessee specifically.

Here is a link to the full text of the upcoming residential building code (2021). Chapter 3 ‘Building Planning’ will provide you the design basics of minimum room sizes, spaces, ceiling heights and so on.

2021 International Residential Building Code

Do Not Be Intimidated. If you can learn Envisioneer (with its very steep learning curve) then you can learn building code…it’s really not that complicated, and you will be a better designer for it.

To answer your above question…the inside room dimensions are the least important (I’ve rounded mine +/- 1/2″ for decades now)…it is the outside dimensions of a building that you should focus on keeping in even increments, either by ft or in. Very seldom do I have fractions in my outside dimensions…it does happen, sometimes unavoidably, but in general no fractions in outside dimensions, inside is fine.

If you work from enough ‘Houseplans.com’ plans and you will find that it is entirely common for their room dimensions to be wildly incorrect. This is common for most online catalog sites in my experience.

Lastly…if you want to get into money making faster than learning to draft entire plan sets will provide, consider getting into 3d modeling rendering work only, where you simply build 3d models from other peoples already drawn plans and produce renders for clients. You might need a computer upgrade but it is a faster route to $$ than learning how to create building plans that will pass a plan review for a building permit.

That is the extent of my Monday morning business advise, best of luck. We need more non-certified designers!

It seems your emphasis is on creating home plan layouts for sale online.

As SDS says, knowing the codes is extremely important. But getting into construction details like you are struggling with on the Foundation options, will vary based on the site location.

Frost footing depth and soil bearing capacity affect crawl space wall depth and soil bearing footing size. If adding real stone option, you can’t just switch to a 2×4 wall, with 8  ” foundation wall, as many states require 6″ walls for insulation.

Rather than show or note various options on foundation plan, you can add a detail sheet and do wall sections showing a stone / brick ledge and increased footing size, stating these options may conform but owner must meet local code.

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Side note to previous posting where you asked about dimensions be correct or incorrect. Walls can show extra lines for drywall, sheathing, siding , brick/stone.

It is best to set up your dimensions to measure to concrete face, to stud wall , both interior and exterior.  Builders do not want to subtract to get to the basic wall dimensions. You don’t want to rely on them subtracting properly.  Make a note ‘ all dimensions to stud face.

Second side note, All walls when drawn adjust heights set in building locations. If you want to switch to a different wall, you can select the wall, or ‘select all similar’ and right click and choose ‘ Replace’.  This will bring you to catalog Wall option and you simply select the new wall and all will change.

At that point make sure dimensions are correct as they may have adjusted to the new wall in length.

Jack

zimmerdesign.com

Sorry Chris,

I didn’t add the attachment for dimension setting.

I use Core Exterior for Auto Exterior and Leading Core for Interior.  Sometimes I do both Leading and Trailing.  But many times the Carpenter only marks one side. They can then just mark the next side and always set framing to left or right of mark.

Example.  Stud wall is 12′ to next stud wall (inside dimension of room) . If you dimension both Lead and Trailing, they mark first wall, then add 3 1/2″, then measure 12′, mark and repeat.

But if you mark only one side, then to next wall, they see dimension as 12′ 3 1/2″, make mark and move to next.

Here it is.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by jkzimm.

Don’t be interested in finished to drywall interior dimensions of a house. Concentrate on making it as easy as possible for the builder. I normally do exterior foundation wall as simple as possible. Have sheathing lap down on face of foundation and go from there.  The dimensions of stud walls are not face to face but running dimensions. I don’t care much about the lengths except to not list them below 1/4 ” … in some cases not below 1/2″.  Carpenters will laugh at you if you call out 1/8″. Wood finished dimension and warp of wood don’t allow for such detail measurements.

If a specialty situation exists where you must fit standard cabinets between a space with drywall, then measure to the drywall and forget about simplifying stud walls.

All realtors round off the room dimensions. They don’t care about 1/2″….

Jack    zimmerdesign.com