Roofs, Attics, and Ceilings

This tutorial will teach you how to "put a roof over your head." Specifically, you can learn about:

Roof Styles
Adding a Roof
Changing your Roof Shape, Style, or Appearance
Adding a Ceiling to Create an Attic
Dealing with Tricky Roofing Situations

If you prefer you can view a complete set of video tutorials on Roofs.

Video Tutorial

Roofing is one of the most powerful features in the program. You can automatically add a roof and be done in one simple operation, or you can customize to create almost any kind of roof.

Roof Styles

There are endless possibilities for roof shapes. All the styles are not represented in the list of pre-made roofs in the Master Catalog. This is because you must first apply a basic shape for your roof before modifying it with end treatments or your own customized shape.

The basic slope styles represented in the Master Catalog are:

	Hip - a basic single slope roof.
	Double - a two slope roof. Each slope has a unique angle.
	Mansard - a two-slope roof. The upper slope is nearly flat while the lower slope is steep.
	Curved or Arched - a roof with a single rounded surface.

From these basic shapes you can also create:

	Gable - you can choose from four end styles:
		Plain
		Half Hip
		Full Hip
		Squared
	Bullnose - a single slope roof with an arched or rounded end.
	Dutch Hip - a combination of a gable and hip roof.
	Custom Roof - define your own roof shape by adding any number of surfaces.

Back to Top

Adding a roof

When you've completed the exterior walls of your project, you can add a roof automatically or choose points to specify the area covered by your roof.

To add a roof automatically:
1. Under the Building tab, click the Roof tool.
2. In the fly out menu that appears, select Roof by Perimeter.
3. A 20-degree Hip Roof is pre-selected. To choose a different style, click on one of the other roofs in the catalog on the right.
5. Click anywhere inside the perimeter of your structure. The roof is automatically generated.

To add a roof by picking points: 1. Click on the Roof icon in the Insert toolbar. 2. In the fly out menu that appears, select Roof by Picking Points. 3. A 20-degree Hip Roof is pre-selected. To choose a different style, click on one of the other roofs in the catalog on the right.
4. Click your mouse button at the starting point of your roof, then click again for each new point. A box will be drawn around the chosen area as you add points. 5. When you make it back to your starting point, right-click and select Finish. Tip: The Pick Points insertion method will not work for curved wall segments. Instead, use the automatic method described previously.

Back to Top

Changing your Roof Shape, Style, or Appearance

Now that a basic roof is in place, you can modify it by selecting the individual support segment(s) that you want to change. Remember that the modifications you make will be applied only to the segment(s) you've selected, not to the entire roof. The most common shape modification is creating a Gable roof, but you can apply the following instructions to almost any kind of change you want to make to your roof.

To create a basic gable roof: 1. Click on the edge or fascia of the roof on the first side you want to gable. The entire roof will become highlighted and the side you clicked should also display a grip handle. 2. Hold down your Shift key and click the highlighted roof line on the opposite side. Both sides should now have handles. 3. Right-click and select Properties. 4. Click the Roof Shape icon. 6. Select Gable from the window of roof shape icons. 7. Click Ok. To move a roof segment: 1. Click on the fascia line of the segment you want to move. 2. Right-click and select Move. -OR-

Move your mouse over the roof's grip handle until the pointer changes to a Move cursor. 3. Click on the handle and drag the segment to its new position.

Back to Top

Adding Ceilings

Ceilings between locations are created automatically when you draw four walls. The only place you might need to add ceilings in your project is wherever you have a space open to the roof. There are three ways to create a ceiling. You can automatically add a ceiling to an entire building location and be done in one simple operation; you can create a ceiling for an individual room; or you can create a custom sized and shaped ceiling by picking points. We recommend inserting ceilings by room, because it will allow you to apply paint colors or other materials individually to the ceiling in each room.

To add a ceiling to any room: Check the Building Locations pulldown to make sure you are inserting your ceiling on the floor where the roof is located. 2. Click on the Building tab and select the Ceiling tool. 3. In the fly-out menu that appears, select Ceiling by Room. 4. Click anywhere inside the perimeter of each room where you want to add a ceiling. The ceiling is added automatically. 5. Continue to add ceilings to other rooms, or right-click and select Finish when you're done inserting ceilings.

Note: If you intend to treat the attic as another floor where you will be inserting elements, you should create and define a new building location. For more information on how to do this, see the tutorial titled Working on Multiple Floors and Split Levels.

Back to Top

Dealing with Tricky Roofing Situations

Depending on the complexity of your home design, getting the right roof can be easy or it can require special handling. Here are some situations you may encounter and how you would go about creating the right kind of roof. These tips are written with the expectation that you already understand basic functions of the program.

Creating a roof for a portion of a lower floor
In this situation, you might have a lower floor plan shape that isn't exactly the same as the upper floor. The portion of the lower floor that needs a roof can be covered by using the Roof by Picking Points method described above and drawing your roof over the walls you want to cover. The program should easily snap to the intersections of the walls. Make sure the correct Builging Location is selected before you start to draw the roof.

Creating a small roof to cover a porch or window Again, you can follow the Roof by Picking Points method, but instead of tracing over the walls, you will draw out from the walls to define the porch or window area you want to cover. After you've created the basic shape you'll need to edit the segment that is touching the wall. Select it by clicking on its fascia (the dashed line on the wall side). Change that segment to a Gable shape and reduce the overhang to 0".

Extending a roof to cover a porch
If the porch is on the same location as the main roof of the house, it's easy to create an extended portion of the roof to cover the porch area. Simply create your roof by the automatic method described above. If the porch is the entire length of the side or section of the roof you just inserted, simply drag that segment of the roof out to cover the porch. If the porch is not the same size, then use the picking points method to draw a portion of the roof over the porch. Because they are on the same location, the two roofs should merge automatically.

Creating a roof when the walls are not all on the same location or are not all the same height
You can first try simply creating roofs automatically on each location. Otherwise you will have do some drawing. The most important thing with this type of situation is to first get the shape right, then adjust the segments as you need. The steps are these:

• Create a roof on the highest location automatically or by picking points.
• Draw additional roof portions to cover the walls of lower heights or on other locations that you want to cover.
  
• Select and edit any segments covering walls that are shorter than the location on which you created the roof. Go to the Support and Details page and look for the Support Height value.

Creating a Dormer
The program has a convenient wizard to help you with this complex type of roof embellishment. To access the Dormer wizard, select the Roof tool and click on Dormer Roof. The options and methods for inserting a dormer are too extensive to discuss here. Refer to the program's User's guide for more details.

Back to Top