Overcladding

[Anonymous]

All,

I have a project which will be overcladding an existing bungalow with insulation. I have an as existing model of the house. The roof and floors are easy to do by adding the insulation as slab / roof as an additional layer to the existing build up.. but what do I do about the walls.

Option 1 - add a new layer to the existing wall - but then I have to mess about with several walls of different heights as there will be some areas that are not insulated and perhaps even different thicknesses of insulation.

Option 2 - draw a new wall of just insulation on the outside of the existing wall, but then how do I deal with the windows and sills etc?

If anyone has done this before and has some tips they would be appreciated. I am running ST2011 on a mac so do not have the renovation filters or complex wall profile tools etc.

Thanks in advance
Matt

[Karl Ottenstein]

mattb wrote:
I have a project which will be overcladding an existing bungalow with insulation. I have an as existing model of the house. The roof and floors are easy to do by adding the insulation as slab / roof as an additional layer to the existing build up.. but what do I do about the walls.

Terminology to clarify: when you say 'layer' do you mean another slab or roof? What you should use in this situation is a composite slab or wall and add one more more new "skins".

Option 1 - add a new layer to the existing wall - but then I have to mess about with several walls of different heights as there will be some areas that are not insulated and perhaps even different thicknesses of insulation.

Seems like you do mean skin, when you say layer. You can use solid element operations to trim the different skin heights. See, for example:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/CompositeWallsWithVaryingSkinHeights

Edit: oops, sorry. That article is using complex profiles now, which you don't have in ST2011. A similar article existed for composites and solid element subtract ... will see if I can find it...

Option 2 - draw a new wall of just insulation on the outside of the existing wall, but then how do I deal with the windows and sills etc?

In a few cases this method is useful - and you then have to use an "Empty Opening" (from door or window tool) to cut the hole in the extra wall. This is a lot more work, requires coordination of both sets of openings to keep things correct, and may not work out at all, depending on what you are doing with the trim/sills/etc.

Note, too, that your 2011 Start Edition does support 'partial structure display', so you can add these and other skins and yet still display a core-only view when needed (e.g., structural plans).
http://www.archicadwiki.com/StartEdition2011

Cheers,
Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

Option 1 - add a new layer to the existing wall - but then I have to mess about with several walls of different heights as there will be some areas that are not insulated and perhaps even different thicknesses of insulation.

Seems like you do mean skin, when you say layer. You can use solid element operations to trim the different skin heights. See, for example:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/CompositeWallsWithVaryingSkinHeights

Edit: oops, sorry. That article is using complex profiles now, which you don't have in ST2011. A similar article existed for composites and solid element subtract ... will see if I can find it...

Illustrations better in the article above - if you can picture doing that with solid element subtract. This article uses SEOp, but does not illustrate composite walls - so you have to imagine that part here:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/WallSlabIntersections

If your insulation thickness will vary, you will need to create duplicates of the composite with the different insulation thicknesses ... but modeling it that way will let window/door openings be simple (no extra wall hole issues) and will force you to deal with how to finish the differing thicknesses. On the other hand, if the over cladding does not follow the framing of the wall - but perhaps a ground contour/etc not related to the floor-by-floor construction, then modeling with extra walls and wall holes may be the easiest solution...


For partial structure display - which you may want to use once you add these over claddings - see:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Partial%20Structure%20Display
and
http://www.archicadwiki.com/TechNotes/Core-Only%20Display%20of%20Composite%20Structures

[Anonymous]

Matt,

In SE2011 you can use Composite Walls (several are included in the program):
1. Select a composite wall
2. Duplicate and rename it
3. Make the changes to the copy (add or remove a skin, change priorities, position, thickness, material ,fill.....)
4. Repeat this for multiple different composite walls
5. Activate "Walls and Beams Reference Lines" to see their position on the walls you are to change ( this is IMPORTANT)
6. Select all existing walls that will be changed, press right button and select COPY
7. Make a new WORKSHEET and PASTE this walls on it as 2D entities
8. Use this worksheet as Trace Reference for your plan and drag it to meet your existing walls
9. Select the wall (s) to be changed an than select the right type of composite wall to use it
10. Repositon the changed wall´s Reference Lines
11. Changed walls will mantain properties of the existing ones (base,height, windows, doors...)

[Anonymous]

All,

Thank you for all the replies, looks like different wall constructions is the way forward with varying skins (which is what I meant instead of layers). The trick of copying the existing walls onto a worksheet sounds useful. The partial structure display sounds like an good way to deal with the new elements, call the existing parts the 'core' and the new bits the finishes then these can be switched on and off easily.

Thanks for all your help.

Matt