Header over windows in section

[Jody S Keppers]

Is there a way to insert the framing above and below a window so that it shows automatically in cross section?

The complex profiles work great for creating walls that have automatically generated sills and top plates, but I haven't been able to figure out a way for the header to be generated automatically above a window. It doesn't look like the AC 12 or 13 window library parts have an option to turn one on. I thought I saw a header library part once that would insert itself in a wall, but I haven't been able to find it.

[Erika Epstein]

Not that I know of. I still have to go back in put them in. There are some 2x 2D parts in the detailer library. You can set up favorites for these and then they are quick to place.
Alternatively you can model these framing elements.

[Gerald Hoffman]

Jody,

The CadImage Framing add-on will do this but of course it is an extra cost. I don't use it but usually add 2D parts as mentioned by Erika. I personally don't think you need this level of detail in 1/4" sections as long as you note the headers in plan. If you are doing a larger detail you add the necessary detail. Where I live a lot of my headers are engineered anyway if they have any kind of a point load on them and these are specified by the Truss supplier. I then do a lintel schedule that matches. Any other lintels are per code.

[Anonymous]

Jody,

I just use beams. When I get the structural design from the engineers, I actually place every stick in the building, including the headers. These become my framing plans, too... I set up a display option combo that displays beams as 'centerline only', and it looks like an ordinary framing plan, with the added bonus of having all of the placed beams show up in my sections.

Normally, I just use fills to add in the sill plates, top plates and double 2x window sills, although I've modeled those before, too. since those never really change, I've found those are easiest to just 2D into the sections (one of the few things I 2D into sections)... but they can be modeled just as easily, if you want to.

For stuff I want to model, but don't really want to 'see' in plan view, I use a very loose dotted line type, and assign an 'invisible' pen in layout mode. My 'invisible' pen reads as a very faint gray in model view so I can see it while I'm working. The loose dotted line prevents obscuration of other elements in layout mode if I don't have the display order set perfectly.

Hope that helps... it's 'a' solution... Not the 'only' solution, of course.

You could use the profile wall to do the top and bottom plates, then the beam technique for headers and window sills. That'd give you 100% modeled sections, and full parametrics.

[David Larrew]

Dave's solution is a sound one. I've done this process on projects that I needed to design and document the structural/framing. I like Dave's Pen/Line Type/Model View solution, too. To go one step further, you can also name the Beam IDs (2-2x10, TJI12, etc.) in order to schedule/take-off the beams by size and type.