cad program

[gws]

Can anyone recomend a cad/cam program or better yet a building designer. Wife wants a carport hung off the front storage barn. I know the design I want and layout but county engineers wants a cad drawing of the project. 3D would be nice but can live with 2d.

Hey, I am Gary

 

[PBMAX]

You may be better off finding someone locally that does cad drawings.Ive tried a couple different do it yourself programs and there ok but can be aggravating.Some do a good job drawing the image you want but lack the numbers info in detail or just the opposite.A proffesional version such as AutoCAd is big bucks plus takes quite a while to learn.My sister in law found some plans for a house and had a fellow(that worked at home) here draw up what they wanted I don't recall them fussing about the cost.If you do find a good program let us know I've got plans for a barn I'd like to modify...

Lil' Paul
Proud owner of TC21D
Laziness is the Father of invention.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[GlueGuy]

I've got 3D Home Designer Deluxe from Broderbund. It has a few quirks, but does a decent enough job for our county planning crew. It also makes material estimates and 3D views. You can configure it to show as many/few dimensions as you require.

The only printing I've done is to a single 8.5x11 sheet, but it seems "good enough".

The GlueGuy

 

[skent]

I used 3D home designer too (like Glueguy) to design and furnish our current home. After I got everything the way I wanted it, we had to have a liscensed firm draw up the 'Final' copies to put electrical outlets in the right (code) areas & needed HVAC added. But the builder was impressed with what he was given to start with. I also use AutoSketch for Windows at work (and at home) for general type drawings. It's also a powerful, inexpensive and easy to use program.

They also have a 3D landscape program to lay out a lawn or garden area. It can advance thru the years and show you how garden/landscape will change as the plants grow at different rates.



Steve

 

[gws]

I have looked at 3d home planner but not sure its going to work on a pole structure. Does the 3d home design have any option for pole barns or pole structures as opposed to 2x framing?

Hey, I am Gary

 

[MarkV]

Gary, I have used "Floor Plan 3D" which is another inexpensive design program. It is not that good for elevations and I found the 3D feature to be more work than it was worth. Does fine for floor plans and such. What does your building department want in the way of plans. Around here, for a pole barn, you could get by with floor plans and some specs. When you get into adding plumbing you are into a differnt ball game.

MarkV

 

[GlueGuy]

The version I've got has 4 basic types of walls; plain, rail, room definition (not a wall), and beam. It will do various widths (2", 4", 6", 8", and 12"). Newer versions might be more capable. For poles, I might just make a wall that is 8x8 to simulate a pole.

The GlueGuy

 

[skent]

When I built my latest Pole barn, I just used Autosketch and drew up (for the permit) what I knew would work (from an existing pole barn built in the 80's). The BOM had to be manually calculated from the drawings.

Steve

 

[mdbarb]

Why not use paper and pencil? Perhaps you misunderstood when they ask for a drawing or perhaps they toss around the term "cad drawing" loosley. I cant imagine county would REQUIRE a cad dwg. cad is just the electronic pencil. They get a plot anyway, so what do they care which brand pencil you used? As for giving them an actual cad dwg - I NEVER give an electronic drawing to anyone - risking having the dwg changed without your knowledge and liability concerns. Also compatability with their program could be an issue. Also the cad program may not be appropriate for your use as the power in a cad program is in repetition and revisions. Your project would be a do it once thing. It would be much quicker and easier to learn to use a Tsquare and pencil and print your neatest for this project than spend $100 and time and frustration. You would spend more time learning the program and its limitations than just drawing it. Not to mention printing out a full size dwg.All of the simple programs mentioned are reasonably easy to learn but there will be some things it just cannot do. As much as I love cad, this requirement would be overkill. I have spent about 15 years using Autocad almost every day but the issue here is not what drawing tool to use but the knowledge behind the tool. If you know enough about construction to spec the posts, beams, joists, structural connections, flashing, waterproofing, code issues, setbacks etc. then you could probably submit it in crayon.

 

[GlueGuy]

mdbarb,

Thanks for the voice of reason. In fact, that's the way our county runs. You don't really need a "professional" drawing, especially for something as simple as a car port. A simple sketch with paper and pencil is probably sufficient.

I've done similar things for a couple of simple projects that required county approval.

One was for a small pad that we put in for out propane tank (we built it into the side of an embankment, so there is a retaining wall on the uphill side). County is _very_ interested in propane tank's on/near hillsides, as they can start rolling during an earthquake....

The other was for a pad we poured for our water storage tanks. Somewhat the same issue as the propane. Not as volatile, but a lot more damaging if they move during an earthquake.

In both cases, I just did a couple of simple drawings that indicated (1) where on the property the construction was, (2)an elevation deatil, (3)How big the pad was and how it was being reinforced (rebar on 16" centers).

The GlueGuy