Lesson Plan – Complex Wall Design and Editing

Lesson Overview
This lesson explains the different types of walls, their construction and
materials, and what requirements the Uniform Building Code has set for
building walls.

Walls are the vertical constructions of a building that enclose, separate, and
protect its interior spaces. They may be load-bearing structures of
standardized or composite construction designed to support necessary loads
from floors and roofs; or they may consist of a framework of columns and
beams with nonstructural panels attached to, or filling in between, them.

Software: Autodesk® Revit®

Time: 0.5 to 0.75 hours
Level: Advanced
Datasets: Imperial included

Concepts Addressed
 Identify types of wall framing
 Identify the materials that are typically used to construct walls
 Describe building codes affecting wall construction

Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson you will be able to:

 Create a vertically compound wall style

 Modify wall structures
 Apply split region, merge region, and assign wall layers

Exercise Index

Exercise 01 Create a Vertically Compound Wall Page 10

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Key Terms

balloon framing dwelling egress

exterior fire block fire-stop
flagstone framing gypsum
inside-out design interior load-bearing partition
occupancy occupancy load partition
platform framing roof plate sill plate
structure stud top plate

Wall Types

Load-bearing walls carry the structural weight of your home. Load-bearing walls include all exterior walls, and any
interior walls that are aligned above support beams. Because exterior walls serve as a protective shield against
the weather for the interior spaces of a building, their construction should control the passage of heat, infiltrating
air, sound, moisture, and water vapor. The material used on the exterior shell of a wall should be durable and
resistant to the weathering effects of sun, wind, and rain. Building codes specify the fire-resistance rating of
exterior walls, load-bearing walls, and interior partitions.

Partition Walls

Partition walls are interior walls that are not load-bearing. Partition walls have a single top plate. They can be
perpendicular to the floor and ceiling joists but will not be aligned with support beams. Any interior wall that is
parallel to the floor and ceiling joists is a partition wall. Their construction should be able to support the desired
finished materials, provide the required degree of acoustical separation, and accommodate the distribution and
outlets of mechanical and electrical services.

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Frame Walls

Studs (usually 2x4s or 2x6s) are an important part of every wood-frame building because they form the building
walls. Siding and wallboard hang from the studs, and the second floor and roof are supported by wall studs.

Platform Framing

Platform framing is a light wooden frame with studs; it is only one-story high regardless of the levels built. Each
level rests on the top plates of the story below or on the sill plates of the foundation wall. Platform framing is most
commonly used today.

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Balloon Framing

Balloon framing uses studs that rise the full height of the frame, from the sill plate to the roof plate. Balloon
framing was used in houses built before 1930, and is rarely used today except in some new home styles with high
vaulted ceilings.

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Wall Structures
The subject of wall structures is fairly complex. The materials used for external walls differ from the materials used
for internal walls. Foundation walls must be made up of materials that can tolerate moisture and repel insects,
such as termites. Certain wall materials can be used to insulate for sound; for example, as in houses located near
an airport. Some wall materials have special insulation that helps to conserve energy.
Walls are usually constructed of brick, gypsum board, fire-retardant wood, concrete, and stone.

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Concrete
Concrete is a mixture of sand, coarse aggregate, Portland cement, and water. The sand used in concrete should
be blank-run sand, which is fairly round in shape and of various sizes. The coarse aggregate is gravel or crushed
stone. Concrete should have aggregate pieces no larger than one quarter the thickness of the pour. Portland
cement is made of clay, lime, and other ingredients that have been heated in a kiln and ground into a fine powder.

Concrete is often used for tilt-up buildings. In a tilt-up building, the concrete wall is poured at the construction site
and then raised into position using a crane.

Brick

Manufactured by firing molded clay or shale, bricks vary widely in color, texture, and dimension. Despite these
variations, they fall into four main categories: common or building, patio, fire, and facing.

Bricks are modular, meaning that they are either one-half or one-third as wide as they are long. The most
common nominal modular unit size is 4 inches. Like lumber, bricks are described according to nominal rather than
actual sizes. For instance, the actual size of a 4x8 brick is 3 5/8 x 7 5/8 inches. The nominal size is the actual size
plus a normal mortar joint of 3/8 to 1/2 inch on the bottom and at one end.

For exterior walls that must withstand moisture and freeze-thaw cycles, specify SW (severe-weathering grade)
bricks. For interior uses, such as facing a fireplace or a planter, you can use MW (moderate weathering) or NW
(no weathering).

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Stone

Building stone is divided into three basic types: rubble, flagstone, and ashlar.

 Rubble is composed of round rocks of various sizes

 Flagstone consists of flat pieces, 2 to 4 inches thick, of irregular shapes
 Ashlar, or dimensioned stone, is cut into pieces of uniform thickness for laying in coursed or noncoursed
patterns

Quarried stone is cut from a mountainside or a pit; fieldstone is rock that has been found lying in fields or along
rivers.

Gypsum Board

Gypsum board is the generic name for the family of products comprised mainly of a noncombustible gypsum core
and paper facings. Gypsum board is commonly referred to as drywall, wallboard, plasterboard, and sheet rock.
Gypsum is a mineral found in sedimentary rock formations. This product is perfectly suited for fire resistance.
Gypsum contains chemically combined water that is driven off as steam when subjected to high heat, effectively
fighting fire. Gypsum board is the most common interior finish used today in Canada and the United States.

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Wood

Wood is used as framing material and can also be used as an exterior finish. Wood is typically rated as one-hour
or two-hour fire retardant; meaning that it takes one or two hours to be completely consumed by a fire. Building
codes usually require that all exterior walls use Type II (two-hour) wood and interior walls use Type I (one-hour)
wood.

Fire-Stops

The Uniform Building Code (UBC) requires that every wall have fire-stops installed. A fire-stop or fire block is a
piece of material, usually fire-retardant wood, used as part of the wall framing. A fire will slow down in order to
consume a piece of fire-retardant wood. This gives firefighters more time to put out a fire and allows people in the
building time to evacuate. In some cases, insurance companies have refused to cover fire damage when it was
determined that buildings did not have adequate fire blocks installed in the structure.

Building Codes

Occupancy refers to the use or type of activity intended for the proposed building.
Occupant load refers to the number of people who occupy the space.

There are ten major occupancy categories:

 A - Assembly
 B - Business (for example, offices)
 E - Educational
 F - Factory and Industrial
 H - Hazardous
 I - Institutional (for example, hospitals)
 M - Mercantile
 R - Residential
 S - Storage
 U – Utility

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Under the code, every building in town gets squeezed into one of these ten groups. Within each of these groups
there are classifications. For example, the residential occupancy type has two classifications:
 R-1: Hotel and apartment house (each accommodating more than ten persons)
 R-3: Dwellings, lodging houses (each accommodating less than ten persons)

Code requirements are determined by the occupancy type of your building and the number of people that will
occupy it. The Uniform Building Code (UBC) states the minimum egress requirements of square footage required
per person for each occupancy type. If you know how many people will be using a building, you can compute the
square footage needed by multiplying the number of occupants by the square footage per person required for a
building of that occupancy type. This will give you the total number of square footage required.

Suppose, for example, the normal occupancy of an office building is five people. The UBC states that the
Occupant Load Factor for an office building is 100 square feet per person. Therefore, the minimum square feet of
floor required would be 5 x 100, or 500 square feet.

Group R-3 occupancies (dwellings) are probably the least restricted of all occupied buildings. Most of the
requirements simply reflect common sense. For instance, living, dining, and sleeping rooms are required to have
windows.

Vertically Compound Walls

About This Lesson

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

 Create a compound wall style
 Modify wall structures
 Apply split region, merge region, and assign wall layers

Exercise: Design a Vertically Compound Wall Structure

Walls often have different materials from exterior to interior face, such as a weatherproof outside surface, a
structural mid-section, and a decorated interior surface.

Walls can have different materials present from the bottom of the wall to the top; for example, a wall exterior
consisting of brick from the ground up a certain distance with wood siding above. Vertically complex interior wall
surfaces may have a baseboard, wood rails, and a cornice at the top where the wall meets the ceiling.

You can define a wall type with these elements, so that all walls of that type contain the desired features.

In this exercise, you create and modify vertically compound walls. You create an exterior wall with a decorative
brick ledge.

Key Terms

align compound wall element

exterior fillet gypsum
insulation interior layer
location line merge split
structure stud temporary dimension

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You use the following tools: 3) Select one of the Exterior - Brick on Mtl. Stud
 Modify walls as shown. Be sure to select the wall and
not a window.
 Split Region
 Merge Regions
 Assign Layers

4) Click Properties palette > Edit Type to open the

Type Properties dialog box.
The completed exercise

Create a Vertically Compound Wall

1) Open file: CompoundWalls_01_Exercise.rvt

2) The model opens in a 3D view.

5) Wall structures are Type Properties. You change

the type, so all instances of this type change.

 To define the structure of the wall, in the

Structure value field, click Edit

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6) You use the Modify Vertical Structure tools at
the bottom of the dialog box. As indicated in
the dialog box title, these tools only work if the
Section Preview is active.
To split a layer or region horizontally, highlight one of
the borders. A preview split line displays when you
highlight a border. To split a layer or region
vertically, highlight a horizontal (top or bottom)
boundary.

Note: Do not use ESC while in this dialog box, or

you will lose your changes.

10) Right-click in the Preview window to access the

Zoom shortcut menu.

7) If not already expanded, click Preview to open
the preview of the wall structure.
8) Change the view type from Floor Plan: Modify
Type Attributes to Section: Modify Type
Attributes.
Use Zoom In Region to zoom into the lower
part of the section view. You can also use the
scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out.
11) Click Split Region.

The Modify Vertical Structure Sweeps and

Reveals tools activate.

12) Place your cursor along the outside face of the

wall along the Layer 1: Masonry - Brick layer.
Click to split the region into two parts.
Wall Sample Height

9) The wall sample height is a default height set in

the preview pane. You can set the sample
height to any value.

You should set it to a value high enough that

enables you to create the desired wall structure.

Note: This sample height does not set the height

of any walls of that type in the project. In this
exercise, you accept the default sample height
of 20 feet.

Split Region Tool

The Split Region tool divides a layer, either

horizontally or vertically, into regions. When you split
a layer, the new regions assume the same material
as the original. You can assign different materials to
regions. You can split regions into other regions.

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13) Split the outside brick masonry face again so
it is divided into three sections. Temporary
dimensions display so you can control the
location of the splits.

16) Click to merge the two layers. The upper split

disappears.

Modify Tool

The Modify tool can be used to modify the position of

Merge Region Tool
Merge Regions is used to merge adjacent regions so
they are composed of the same layer material.
Pre-highlight a border between regions. Click to
merge them.
vertical and horizontal lines in the wall structure
using temporary dimensions to enable you to
change the composition of the wall.
17) In the Edit dialog box, under Modify Vertical
Structure, click Modify.

When you merge regions, the position of the pointer

on a pre-highlighted border determines which
material prevails after the merge.

14) Click Merge Regions.

18) Notice that there is a temporary dimension

from the split line to the base of the wall. You
may need to zoom out to see the temporary
dimension.

Select the line of the split in Layer 1 (you may

need to zoom in to select it). The dimension text
 Place your cursor on the upper split you just turns blue, indicating that it is modifiable.
created in the Brick layer.

15) If you hover your cursor for a few seconds, a

tooltip displays with a message that explains
what will happen upon selection.

In this case, since both regions are composed

of the same layer, the message will be: Border
between Layer 1 and Layer 1. After merge,
assign Layer 1.

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 24) Next, you assign the material Masonry Brick
- Soldier Course to this new 8" tall region to
create a band of soldier course (upright) brick
19) Click the temporary dimension text. Change the on the exterior.
value to 12.
To create a new wall layer, click Layer 1 in the
Press ENTER. Revit converts the value to Structure definition table. Click Insert.
12' 0".

20) Zoom out so you can view the entire temporary

dimension as well as the split line. Notice there
is a flip arrow at the split line.

Selecting this arrow will flip the temporary

dimension so that it dimensions from the split
up, instead of down, to the next parallel line.

If you set the split offset down from the top,

Revit maintains that offset distance from the top A new layer is added at the top of the list.
of the wall, which may be different from the
default 20' height you are using in the Edit dialog 25) Change the Function of this new Layer 1 to
box. Finish 1[4].
 Change the Material to Masonry - Brick
21) Click the arrow to observe the behavior. Click
Soldier Course.
again to return to the original position.
 Click OK.
Assign Layers
The column widths in the table can be adjusted.
After a region is split, you assign a different layer to
one of the regions to change its material. You create
a new layer and assign it to a region.

22) Use Split Region to create another split above

the bottom split.

23) To set the location of the new split:

 Click Modify in the Modify Vertical
Structure area.
 Select the split line.
 Change the height of the new split to 8"
above the first one. You may have to adjust
the flip arrow of the dimension.

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26) Change the Material for Layer 2 to Masonry- 29) Click OK twice to apply the change and close
Stone. the dialog boxes.
 Click OK.  Click in an open space in the canvas
window to clear the wall you originally
The preview changes appearance. selected.

30) The wall face changed to show an 8" strip of

brick in between regions of stone. All walls of
this type have been changed.

27) To assign the new layer to the 8" region in

the preview pane, click Layer 1 to select the
Masonry - Brick Soldier Course layer.
 Click Assign Layers.

31) Save the project as

CompoundWalls_01_Exercise_finished.rvt
28) Click the 8" tall region to assign the layer to this
region, as shown.
In this exercise, you opened a project file and
created a vertical compound wall using the Assign
Layers, Split Region, Merge Region, Modify, and
Insert Layer tools.

It immediately highlights in blue, because it is

now the selected layer. It also shows a thickness
value. When a layer is selected in the table, it
highlights in blue in the preview window.

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