Working with a brick cavity wall...

[RCrussellUK]

Apologies if this is stupid or obvious, I'm totally new to the 3D Vectorworks way of doing things and am trying to get my head around how to manage this.

I'm working on a model which includes 2 storey brick facing cavity walls.

If I organise my model by levels (my walls tied to layer wall height/elevation height) then I get a line at midpoint and each face of the building is in two parts (which is useful in plan view when I'm working on each floor separately).

Yet I wonder if there is a way to make the appearance more that of a single wall from foundation to roof, without horizontal dividing line? Maybe it can be formed as a single continuous wall? In which case how would it bind with the floors/interior walls distinct to each level? This sounds a bit stupid now I look at it, but it keeps nagging at me.

Suggestions/examples of working with brick cavity walls (especially UK standard) would be welcome.

I think this problem also reflects my slight uncertainty about how class/level/stories work and how elements join vertically between these categories.

[Guest Wes Gardner]

Hi Ross,

In fact, this is a very good question. Keep in mind, in some render styles, that "dividing line" WILL show. It should NOT show in Hidden Line rendering as well as Custom and Final Quality Renderworks. This of course assumes you have good alignment vertically (in other words, walls stacked EXACTLY on top of one another).

Also, depending on the exact construction technique at the floor/wall intersection, you may have to place an offset on the component of the outer wythe of brick in the Wall Style - this offset forces that component to "run long" covering up the side of the floor system.

Another method that can be used in relatively simple conditions is to tell the floor system's (slab) components how to respond to an exterior wall. In this case, the walls are stacked directly on top of one another and the slab "knows" to interupt the inner component(s) but stop just behind the outer component (your outer wythe of brick) resulting in no "line". Keep in mind, if you have a complex assemble, in many cases, the slab won't be able to be "auto-bounded" and you'll need to revert to using offsets in the various components of your Wall Styles.

I've attached a Story Set-Up worksheet - it uses cheesy American wood construction, but hopefully shows how components can be dealt with. For example, in the floor system that's shown, the structural system and the sub-floor stop just behind the wall sheathing whereas the finish material stops just behind the inner component (the drywall).

It'll take you a bit to get your head around this, but once there, it's a pretty cool system

Edited October 18, 2013 by Wes Gardner

[RCrussellUK]

Good to hear from you Wes and thanks for the reply.

I'm working in OpenGL with Edges on, in Renderworks and Hidden Line the division is invisible. So no worries there.

You do raise questions about the construction sequence in terms of floor junctions/interior finishes etc. and I think I see what you're illustrating with the attached drawing. The prioritisation of connections to/through the layers of the exterior wall. This is my next nut to crack, how to control the detail between floor and wall construction.

I created a solid slab from a polygon in a tutorial, but need joists and hangers for my own drawings so will look into that now.

A further thought though, whilst making my own wall using components I was looking at the data attached to the wall. Am I right in thinking that only overall U Value etc. for the wall can be entered and not data for each individual component? (ideally if each individual component was defined, if one was adjusted the overall value/total would be recalculated by VW and adjusted)?

I digress though, wondering about how the model can be used for energy calculations is a whole other set of questions and I'm trying to run before I can crawl.

[RCrussellUK]

Thanks for the reply SBG. At this stage I need only basic energy calculations and a visual check for thermal bridging. Though if there was some way to calculate (and easily adjust and update) building fabric design performance, it would be worth a little extra effort during the modelling process. This will likely be something I need to look into if and when needs dictate.

It seems the overall priority regarding any use of any model data within or exported outside of VW is accuracy of the geometry.