Automatic Dormers

The Auto Dormer

and the Auto Floating Dormer

tools offer a quick and convenient alternative to drawing dormers manually. With just a few clicks an entire dormer is placed, complete with roof, roof hole, walls, and window.

Auto Floating Dormer

An Auto Floating Dormer

can be placed anywhere within a roof plane, as long as there is enough space to contain it. A floating dormer is what some people refer to as a "decorative" dormer. It does not require support walls and does not tie in with the structure of the building.

Click the Roof Tools

parent button; then the Auto Floating Dormer

child tool; and click within an existing roof plane to place a floating dormer at that location.

An auto floating dormer's front wall can be aligned with the exterior wall to create a dormer with sidewalls that do not extend to the floor.

Auto Dormer

The Auto Dormer

tool places a standard dormer, which has the same space and structural requirements as a manually drawn dormer. If you have not drawn dormers manually, you may benefit from learning how. For information, see "Drawing Manual Dormers in a Gable Roof".

Dormers can only be placed in roofs that are large and steep enough to contain them. You may need to change the pitch and/or size of a roof plane before an automatic dormer can be placed. If a warning message stating that some walls are outside the roof plane appears when you try to place an automatic dormer, try decreasing the Height value in the Dormer Defaults dialog.

A knee wall must be present for the dormer to connect to. A knee wall will create attic space and offer structural support. A wall must be present, but it does not necessarily have to be designated as a Knee Wall in the Wall Specification dialog.

Dormers cannot be in conflict with the ceiling on the same floor. If you need to create an open, attic condition, check Ignore Top Floor in the Build Roof dialog and generate roof planes based on the floor below the dormer. If necessary, you can then use Raise Off Plate in the Build Roof dialog to move roof planes up. See "Build Roof Dialog".

Once placed in your model, an automatic dormer can be repositioned and its width adjusted using its edit handles. Double-click on an automatic dormer to open the Dormer Specification dialog, which looks just like the Dormer Defaults dialog but only affects the selected dormer. You can also select the dormer window separately; resize it with its edit handles; and open it for specification. For more information about dormers, see "Dormers".