Part 4: Create a Floor

In this exercise, you create a floor on the lower level using the footprint of the exterior walls.

Next, you copy the floor to the entry level and modify the floor boundary for this level. In the final steps, you attach the walls from the lower level to the entry level floor.

Objectives

• Add a floor by picking walls to create the boundary.
• Copy and paste the floor to another level.
• Edit the floor boundary and use the Align and Trim tools to create a closed loop sketch.
• Modify the roof slope.
• Attach interior walls to the floor.

 Watch the video

Create a Floor on the Lower Level

1. Open your Practice Project if you haven't already.
2. In the Project Browser, under Floor Plans, double-click 01 - Lower Level.

• Like other elements, a floor is associated with a level. To place a floor in the lower level of the model, double-click the lower level floor plan in the Project Browser. Floors are sketch-based elements.

3. Click Architecture tabBuild panel (Floor).

• Selecting the Floor tool opens a sketch mode in which the perimeter of the floor is sketched with a closed loop of lines. Because there are already walls placed in the project which define the shape of the floor, the Pick Walls tool from the Draw panel can be used to sketch the floor perimeter.

4. Now, Click on the Draw panel and select  (Pick Walls).

• Using this tool also creates a constraint between the floor edge and the wall. If a wall is moved at a later time to accommodate a design change, the floor edge will automatically move with it. By placing the cursor over a wall to highlight it, and then pressing the Tab key, the entire chain of connected walls can be selected with one click.

5. Position the cursor over a wall, press Tab, and click to select the chain of walls to form the boundary.

• If they don't all select when you click tab then it means you have an error on one of your corners. Whichever corner won't select is the issue.
• The parallel lines (opposite arrows) shown along the top sketch line of the floor indicate the span direction of the floor, or in other words, the direction of the floor joists. In this case, the floor is a generic floor, so the span direction is not critical. If the span direction needs to be changed, the Span Direction tool on the Draw panel allows for another line on the perimeter to be assigned the span direction.

6. On the Mode panel, click   to finish the sketch.
7. Click No at the prompt. "Would you like walls that go up to this floor's level to attach to its bottom?"

• A floor can be used as an attachment point for walls, so you are asked if the walls touching the floor should stop at the floor level. The walls are currently using levels as the attachments, so that relationship will be left intact by clicking No.

8. Click No at the prompt, "The floor/roof overlaps the highlighted wall(s). Would you like to join geometry and cut the overlapping volume out of the wall(s)?"

• Floors can also cut geometry out of the walls they are intersecting. Depending on the actual built condition, this may or may not be needed. In this case, the floor does not need to cut the geometry of the wall.

Copy the Floor to the Entry Level

1. Click the edge of the floor to select the element, and on the Clipboard panel, click (Copy to Clipboard).

2. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click  (3D View).
3. Click Modify tabClipboard panelPaste drop-down (Aligned to Selected Levels).

4. In the Select Levels dialog, click 02 - Entry Level, and click OK.

A new floor is added to the Entry Level.

Edit the Floor

1. In the Project Browser, under Floor Plans, double-click 02 - Entry Level.
2. With the floor selected, on the Mode panel, click  (Edit Boundary).

• This will allow us to make changes to the shape of the floor. We will be adjusting the floor to create a 2 floor open vaulted space.

3. Select the short horizontal line in the upper-right, as shown below, and press Delete.

4. Create a boundary similar to the one shown below by selecting and dragging the upper vertical line to the left, and the lower, shorter vertical line to the right.

5. On the Modify panel, click  (Align).
6. Click the outside face of the exterior wall and the top sketch line for the narrow part of the floor to align them, as shown.

7. On the Modify panel, click  (Trim/Extend to Corner). We need to remove the line protruding on the top as seen in the image above or else Revit will notice it as an error and undo your changes.
8. Click the sketch lines in the upper right corner to trim the corner boundary.

9. On the Mode panel, click  (Finish Edit Mode).
10. And as before, click No at the 2 prompts.

Attach the Walls to the Floor

1. The interior walls from the floor below are shown in gray in this view, because the first floor is underlayed to this view. We want these walls attach to the underside of the floor.
2. Click, while holding control, to select the interior walls that display in the underlay for 01 - Lower Level.

Press and hold Ctrl as you click to select multiple elements.

Note: You may need to turn on Select Underlay Elements from the dropdown menu on the Modify Tool

3. On the Modify panel, click  (Attach Top/Base).

4. Click the new floor to attach the top of the walls on the lower level to the entry level floor.
5. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click  (Default 3D View).

FINISHED!