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  1. Yea, I discovered that one while playing with it a while back ago. Can make a real mess.
  2. Thanks Dave!!! I'll give this a try and let you know how it comes out.
  3. Hi...I think I did things backwards and I hope someone can help me. When I got Home Designer a couple of years ago, I just jumped right into not knowing there were so many online tutorials online, or even this forum. I laid out my foundation, designed the floor plan, and everything is coming out better than I thought! I loved this program. Certainly a learn by doing experience, that's for sure. Recently, I obtained the CAD Files (DWG and DXF) of my property that was done by an engineering company who did a survey for another project that fell through. I imported the CAD files, and I was blown away by it showing the elevations, location of fencing, trees, etc...pretty cool. But now the problem is that my house isn't orientated in the right location in relationship to the imported CAD information. There is even a part of the house that is "buried" into a sloped hillside. I can't rotate the house, so somehow I'd like to rotate and move the CAD information...but that was imported with the survey/GPS not sure how I can change this. Any suggestions?
  4. I have Home Designer Pro 2020...and some of the features shown in the first video, I don't have. I did "play" with importing the DWG file and selected a few variables that I thought might contain elevation data...and these windows popped-up. Also, the only selection is "Elevation".
  5. Dave...ya kind of talking Greek or should I say Geek to me. I no nothing about CAD, Block, or the like. I'm learning as I go. I believe I have the house plans and terrain (perimeter) very close to where I'd like it, but now that I can see the elevation, I have the house too far up the hill. I need to move it closer to the large garage. But it seems to me, once the data is imported, when I move the house, everything is going to move...including the elevation data, which I can't see anyway. Is there a way to tell if the elevation data is in the imported files? Are they in some text format?
  6. I watched that video before I posted this...I didn't find it to be very helpful in addressing my issue.
  7. Please bear with me, as I'll be the first to admit I'm no pro at this. I have never designed a house or used a program like this. I need some help not with importing the either the DWG or DXF files, but in aligning it up to the property terrain/outline I created when I started to design my house. Here's the story....what I did was create the property outline and started in on designing my house which I have been working on and off for past year. It wasn't until recently that I obtained the DWG and DXF files from a surveyor that did the property several years ago. When I import either the DWG or DXF files, my property and house are not where they should be in relation to the imported CAD files (which in indicate in the first photo). I don't understand why they aren't lining up as I obtained the data to draw the perimeter of the terrain from a surveyor's map , and also I'm not seeing any elevation contours (see last photo). I managed to move the imported DWG information in relation to my drawing which can be done when it's first imported...but what a pain. I spent at lease 45-minutes trying to get the property lines matched up...and then when you click anywhere in the drawing, I can no longer move just the imported DWG layout. Here are my questions... What is the difference in DWG and DXF files? (I have enclosed both). Can the data be view in a text format? Is there a way to easily align the DWG information to my drawing? Why isn't my elevation data showing up? I noticed that my terrain and house are "floating" in the last this normal? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Dennis ACAD-Civil-base-050319.dxf Civil-base-050319.dwg
  8. I agree. In regards to the stem wall in the garage....leave it to Google! Funny that the person asked the same question and another person said they had the same question. Makes perfect sense. The stem wall usually is used to keep water [washing/cleaning] from going under the walls bottom plate. You can have your conc. contractor form this with the slab pour if you choose. I personally like the stem wall. Some areas form on slab and some on stems depending on soil and freezing conditions.
  9. Thanks Bill! I have done the same thing...searched online to get info, but I'm not sure I trust some of the things I read; I figured the people here would know. I belong to a specific classic car forum and you can ask anything you want, and those guys have been so helpful. A few of them are old timers that actually built the cars in the 50's and it's interesting to hear what they did. I think I asked 1,000 questions...and because of the help I got, I have about 10 trophies and have only been showing the car in the past 2 years. Nothing like getting info from people that actually know their stuff! I just assumed it was the same here, were you can ask away, but I get it.
  10. Thanks...Sorry, as I said, I'm new to this...didn't know this forum was for software type apologies.
  11. When it comes to the garage foundation,does it even have a perimeter foundation (stem wall) like the house, or do they use the garage floor as the base to construct the walls?
  12. Thanks!! We don't get snow here...but I will check the code.
  13. While playing with the foundation, is the stem wall supposed to be exposed like this? I believe the stem wall is supposed to be expose somewhat so that termites can be seen and makes it just more difficult for them to get to the wood. If this is true, how much of the stem wall should be exposed? I don't know what is going to be required in my case (crawl space or slab)….so, I'm assuming if it is a crawl space, that would have to be dug out if you wanted a 3ft crawl space and not have the whole house 3ft above the ground. When they put in a slab, is the cement poured on top of the ground or do they dig the dirt out for that also?
  14. WOW!!! Thank you for making that video for me! Not very many people would go out of their way like this. I didn't realize that was made specially for me, until I heard you say; "you said you want 36" crawl space"...then I looked at the date of the video. That really explained things to me; This "floor below" really was confusing to me when there is no floor below. I also found it confusing when changing parameters and other things change, but I'm sure it's done to reflect your changes...I'll have to play with it. A little off the topic...You mentioned that you typically use/build slab floors, what are the advantage/disadvantages between a crawl and slab? My property is at the base of surrounding hillsides and there can be times when the ground is really wet from drainage from the hillsides. My concern is if I build a crawl space, it might grow mushrooms...or mold. My concern in building a slab, is pipes breaking and ease of access.