Creating Steel Framed Walls

QUESTION 

My project calls for steel framed walls. How do I generate these types of walls?

ANSWER

You can use a predefined steel wall type or create your own by accessing the Wall Type Definitions dialog. Once your wall type is configured you can generate steel framed walls by generating your wall framing.

To create steel framed walls

1. In your plan, navigate to Build> Wall> Define Wall Types .  
   
   
   
2. In the Wall Type Definitions dialog that opens, use the drop-down located in the top left corner to choose a predefined steel wall type.
   
   In this example, the "Steel Interior-4" wall type is selected.
   
   
   
   
   
3. If you would like to make changes to the predefined steel wall type, click on the Copy button to create a copy of the wall type, then click Rename to change the name of the copied wall type to something descriptive.
   
   

   Note: Please see the Related Articles for more information on customizing wall types. 

   
   
4. Make any desired modifications to the wall type, then click OK.
   
   It's important to ensure that the Main Layer consists of a steel framing material and that the layer Role is set as Framing. 
   
   In X17 and prior, it's important to ensure that the Main Layer consists of a steel framing material and has the Framing checkbox checked.
   
   

   Note: Common framing materials can be found by navigating to Core Catalogs> Materials> Framing and Structural.
   
   In addition to materials, a variety of other wall settings can be customized here. For more information, please refer to the Related Articles section below. 

   
   
   
   
   
5. We can now specify this wall type to be used as the default going forward. Select Edit> Default Settings  from the menu, expand the Walls category, select the desired wall option, then click Edit.
   
   In this example, the "Interior Wall" option is selected.
   
   
   • If you specify a steel framed wall type as the Interior Wall default, then next time you use the Interior Wall  tool to draw walls in this plan, they will be drawn using that wall type.
     
     
   • Similarly, if you specify a steel framed wall type as the Exterior Wall default, then next time you use the Exterior Wall  tool to draw walls in this plan, they will be drawn using that wall type.
   
   
   
6. In the dialog that appears, click on the Wall Types Panel, use the Wall Type drop-down to choose your desired steel wall type, then click OK and Done.
   
   In this example, the "Steel Interior-4" wall type is selected. 
   
   

   Note: You can also specify existing walls to use this custom wall type by selecting one or more walls in your plan, using the Open Object edit tool, then adjusting the Wall Type.

   
   
   
   
   
7. Next, select Build> Framing> Build Framing .
   
   
   
8. In the Build Framing dialog, check the Walls box under either the Automatically Rebuild Framing or Build Framing Once section, then click OK.
   
   
   
   

Now, any walls in your plan that are using a steel wall type will have steel framing that can be seen in a Framing Overview , as well as in a Materials List.