Creating a Stairwell

An interior staircase must be located in a stairwell, an opening to the floor above. A stairwell is an Open Below room type on the floor above.

If you create a stairwell away from other walls so the Open Below is created in the center of another room, connect a wall of the Open Below room to another wall using an invisible wall.

Creating a Stairwell Automatically

To create a stairwell that matches the perimeter of the staircase, create a floor above the staircase if one does not exist. Select the staircase and click the Auto Stairwell

edit button.

Auto Stairwell

automatically creates a room on the floor above enclosed by railings, defined as Open Below in the Room Specification dialog, and given a Stairwell room label. This room can be selected and edited like any other room.

Creating a Stairwell Manually

To create a manual stairwell

Draw a two-story building. Create the staircase on the first floor.

Make the second floor the Current Floor and the first floor the Reference Floor. See "Reference Floor".

Select Tools> Reference Floors> Reference Display to show the Reference Floor, including the stairs. If the stairs do not display with the reference, make sure the Reference Display Set is selected in the Layer Display Options dialog. See "Displaying Objects".

On the upper floor, use the Railing tool to create a room around the stairs. Use the edit handles to position the railings as needed.

Select the railings one at a time and drag them into position.

When the railings are positioned properly, click the Reference Display toggle button to turn off the display of the Reference Floor.

Click inside the room using the Select Objects tool to select it, then click the Open Object

edit button.

On the General tab of the Room Specification dialog, select Open Below from the Room Type list. Click OK to close the dialog.

Place a Doorway

in the railing at the top step for an opening.

Select the doorway and define a large width in the Door Specification dialog. If the doorway is specified larger than the railing, the door maximizes to fit the space available.