Help Database

Before you begin, when checking to make sure that walls are correctly aligned, you will find it helpful to turn on your Reference Display.

To turn on the Reference Display

1. Select Tools> Reference Floors> Change Floor/Reference from the menu.
   
   
   
2. In the Change Floor/Reference dialog:
   
   
   
   
   • Click the desired Current Floor on the left side to select it. This floor will be the active floor in floor plan view and can be edited.
     
     
   • In the right margin, click to select the desired Reference Floor. Objects on this floor will display as uneditable red lines on the Current Floor.
     
     
   • When you are satisfied with your selections, click the OK button to close the dialog.
     
     


3. Select Tools> Reference Floors> Reference Display  from the menu to display the Reference Floor selected in step 3, above.
   
   
     Helpful Hint: You can control which objects are included in the Reference Display by selecting Tools> Display Settings> Display Options  from the menu.
   
   To learn more, see article 795 in this database:  How to display and print objects on another floor.

To align normal walls on different floors

1. Click the Select Objects  button, then click on a wall to select it.



2. Use the Move edit handle that displays at the location on the wall where you clicked to move the wall into position over a wall shown in the Reference Display.
   
   
   • Do not worry about exact placement at this time.  Just make sure that the lines representing the two walls overlap in floor plan view.



3. Click on the Align With Wall Above  or Align With Wall Below  edit button.
   
   
   Helpful Hint: By default, walls on different floors are aligned by the outer edges of their Main Layers and in most circumstances, the Main Layer should be specified as the structural layer of the wall, particularly when the wall is a framed type.

To align curved walls between floors

Curved walls are aligned between floors using the same technique to align straight walls.

• If the centers and radii of the walls are within a few inches of each other, the Align With Wall Above and Align With Wall Below  edit buttons are enabled for the selected wall.
  
  

• The selected curved wall will take on the radius and center of the referenced wall when the walls are aligned.

To align Pony Walls between floors
When aligning a pony wall with either the wall above or below:

• Align With Wall Above will always align the upper pony wall with the wall above, as specified in the upper pony wall's Wall Type Definition.
  
  
• Align With Wall Below will always align the lower pony wall with the wall below, as specified in the lower pony wall's Wall Type Definition.
  
  

Helpful Hint: To learn more about Wall Type Definitions, review the information provided in your software's documentation by selecting Help> Contents and Index . 

In the space provided on the Index tab, start typing in the keyword of WALL TYPE and once you see Wall Type Definitions dialog, click on the Display button to read more about this Chief Architect feature.

To align Foundation walls between floors

• The Foundation To This Line setting in the Wall Type Definitions dialog controls how a wall of a given type aligns with foundation walls directly below on Floor 0.
  
  
  
  
  Helpful Hint: By default, Foundation To This Line is specified for the Main Layer of most wall types. An exception to this are brick wall types, which have Foundation To This Line specified for the exterior siding layer.