Wall Prefs is "greyed out"

[LarryAZ]

I'm trying to set the "control offset" for a cavity wall. The Wall Presferences is grey and won't let me access it. Help System says I should be able to click on it and open a dialog box while drawing a wall.

So what weird thing am I over looking now?

Thanks

[Delmer]

I don't know that you can do it WHILE drawing, but should have no problems setting it before drawing. Try selecting a different tool and then go back to the wall tool and see if you can set the prefs first.

You likely know this one but the offset cannot be greater than half the wall thickness.

[LarryAZ]

Thank Delmer you did get me to see why it wouldn't work.

If you select the Wall "Type" tool you can't change the prefs. If you click on the Wall tool you can change prefs until you start to draw. With the "type" tool you don't see the prefs icon until you start to draw the wall and then it's already grey.

So I can set the offset but here's what I started trying to change the offset for in the first place.

When I draw the wall using the offset to the size of the cavity it draws just a tiny bit (3/8" +/-) off of the what the offset amount calls for. So when I trace my main floor walls using "show snap others" to draw the foundation walls they don't line up correctly.

The cavity is 4" and the wall offset is 4" so I should be drawing the edge of the cavity right on the edge of my existing wall.

[Delmer]

Its definitely a little tricky. You must be drawing foundation walls with cavities for furring or insulation combined with the concrete? If it is a single cavity then you know you don't have to do this, you just choose right or left control line mode.

I don't quite get what you are drawing but maybe, as with last time, this will point you in the right direction:

If for example you have an 8" concrete wall with 2" insulation on the outside and you want the line of the outside of conc. to follow an outside of stud line then your cavity offset will be 3" (total of 10", divided by 2 for the center = 5, minus 2 for the insulation = 3" = the offset from the center). Same thinking for the control offset.

[ 05-26-2005, 06:33 PM: Message edited by: Delmer ]

[CipesDesign]

And Larry, the WALL TYPE tool is very cool. All you need to do is go to SELECT WALL TYPE, and then click EDIT (or duplicate and edit) for the type you wish to use. Then click APPLY, Now when you select the tool your wall will be exactly as you set them. The only draw back (and this is very minor) is that when you want to start using a different wall type you have to go in again and select it. I often find myself just duplicating already created walls (originally created with the wall type tool) and then placeing them where they ought to be... HTH's