Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pacerron]

The concrete block courtyard walls on the real house seem a little high to me for my tastes. If cap stones are put on top of the existing concrete walls, the walls will even get higher. I think lower walls like Jay has drawn are more visually appealing.

Obed,
I agree, at least from the day 74-10 viewpoint that Peter had already shortened in front of the door.
The image attached is the same with further modifications to show what you are referring to.
I just did it quickly with Photoshop Elements 11 as a comparison.
Read the caption under the image for what was done and what was left alone for comparison.
Ron.

 

[FairfaxStu]

The concrete block courtyard walls on the real house seem a little high to me for my tastes. If cap stones are put on top of the existing concrete walls, the walls will even get higher. I think lower walls like Jay has drawn are more visually appealing.

You know, at first I wanted to agree with you - that the wall is too high as it is. However, after some more careful thinking, I believe that having the wall at the existing height (including knocking out the first three courses of block on the existing tall part) would be beneficial to keep the deer out of Peter's Mom's courtyard. This assumes that some sort of gate would be installed at the entrance of roughly the same height. If the slate cap is added to this height, it should be over 4 feet which I THINK may be enough to keep deer out.

Reason being that Pete's Mom used to have an awful problem with deer eating her flowers at her existing place before a 8 foot deer fence was installed. If Pete was planning to also install a similar fence on this property, then I agree completely that the lower wall would not only look better, but also be more practical for reasons like you mentioned - sitting on it or even having some planters on it.
-Stu

 

[J F]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. Also, Stu, what post # would give me a good view of what you're talking about in regards to what I should re-draw? You've mentioned it a couple of times, so I figure I best quit messin' around with the wrong drawings, and see if I can fix it later on.

 

[J F]

Jay, You seem to be getting a pretty good handle on Chief. I'm using X4 now myself. I see no need to upgrade beyond that as I have my house fully designed and sorted out in X4 and changing versions just causes problems, from past experience. You are finding the issues that Chief always has with transitions, like at the garage doorway. The only way to fix it is to fake out Chief, IMHO. Lay a thin slab over the top of it with the material you want. It is a hack, but it is the only way to fix some things the software does. Do you get driven nuts by the way the software moves things you thought were fixed previously?

Thanks Dave, and I'm using X4 as well. I didn't upgrade for the first time when X5 came out (using Chief since v.9, 2003), as I haven't been making money with the software for the last year or so (elbow issue). And yes, I share your frustrations/work arounds with the software. :laughing: It's enough to drive ya crazy at times.

I've gotten decent at interior work arounds, as that's the only thing I've used the software, but it can be "fun" doing so.

The only way to fix it is to fake out Chief, IMHO Amen, I do plenty of that.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. Also, Stu, what post # would give me a good view of what you're talking about in regards to what I should re-draw? You've mentioned it a couple of times, so I figure I best quit messin' around with the wrong drawings, and see if I can fix it later on.

Perfect! Check out post #906 on page 90 or 91. If you look at the second picture down, you will clearly see the inset I was referring to. Secondly, I just realized that they already have it built for rock veneer on the inside as well. Dunno what that does to your renderings as I really cannot visualize it. Is it ok for the interior veneer to be higher than the wall?
-Stu

 

[J F]

Jay,
I haven't been avoiding your question. The wife and I just got back from the Golden Corral. They have been running Prime Rib and Shrimp on the weekends. My wife loves seafood and I love Prime Rib so a nice treat. Sure wasn't as good as what they used to serve at the USAF Officer Clubs, but it was worth the price. Now it's time for a nap. :licking:

Your tile cap on the wall is fine. The color will depend on what color they paint the house. I attached one of your renderings that you posted while we were away, which I like the best.
Of course I had to mess it up a little. :laughing: I fixed the driveway going into the garage, moved the entrance back over next to the post, and added
a poor representation of the fake beam above the garage door. Shadowing is tricky just using PSe
and not worth the time for this. Your program does it automatically, probably at any angle you choose.

Can you actually add Peter's house to a background as it is now and use the props in your program to finish it? The old program I had did that and I think the HDTV one I mentioned does too. It looks to be a rebranded one of one somebody showed of your company. If Peter can get some shots from behind the house, I'm pretty sure the program will allow me to import them as a background...whether or not I can figure out how to do it, is another question.

I think his front door is going to have glass sidelights, if you have a choice of doors. Pretty sure I can do this.
Any way, great work on your part. I hope the other folks look at your profile and then your website. They will be impressed!
Ron

Thanks, Ron.

 

[pacerron]

Can you actually add Peter's house to a background as it is now and use the props in your program to finish it?
Thanks, Ron.

Jay,
What I meant to ask is, can you take the picture of Peter's house with it's background and apply the changes and finish to his house image rather than the rendering?
Having a picture of what is behind his house would only show the bottoms of pine trees, an old dilapidated barn straight behind on another farm and the house and other buildings of the same farm with the green metal roofs that appear in most of the shots to the right across the open field.
The picture of day 74-1 is the only picture with the same perspective as your models that does not have the dumpster out front.
I was thinking of you adding the rest of his siding and applying the stone to the concrete blocks that are laid but only as high as in your render, the garage door, etc..
After looking again, it really probably would not be worth the effort.
Since Peter hasn't been on at all this weekend, any changes he and the builder have made would just make us be spinning our wheels.
Let's just wait for his next post to find out what has transpired.
Ron

 

[J F]

:laughing: I agree with the last paragraph completely, Ron.

See my last post here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/271172-pipe-smoking.html

Good Sunday relaxing schtuff. :thumbsup:

 

[dstig1]

Jay - I also started with a friend on 9.5, just before 10 came out, so they included the upgrade to 10 at the time free with the purchase. My friend used it first to design his addition/remodel, then handed it to me to design my house a couple years later. I upgraded it to X1 and then later on to X3 (skipped X2 as I wasn't using it at the time), and that one essentially included X4 as I was on the 1 yr SSA program and X4 came out a couple months after I upgraded.

Importing background photos is pretty easy. 3D menu >3D Settings and then go to the backdrop tab and select photo. It helps to keep them in one place so you don't lose them when upgrading or moving to a new PC.

 

[J F]

Thanks, Dave, and kudos to you and your friend using it yourselves. I can only imagine the the head-slapping going on as a totally new user. :laughing:

If/when Pete come's back, we'll have to see if it makes sense to get some good background pics.