Start a house or building

A house or building project has one level for each storey. Each level starts with a closed loop of external walls. You then divide each level into rooms.

Make the project#

1. Click File ▾.
2. Click New ▸ House / building….
3. Type a Name and click Create.
4. In New house / building, type the sizes.
5. Click Create.

The sizes in the dialog are:

The levels get the names Ground floor, First floor, and so on.

Divide a level into rooms#

1. Click Plan or Split in the main view.
2. Select the level in the level list of the plan view.
3. Click ✎ Draw walls.
4. Draw a wall from one external wall to another. Press Enter to finish.

Each closed area becomes a room. For the full drawing steps, see Draw walls and rooms in the plan view.

The assistant can also lay out the full house from a brief. For example:

Lay out a two-storey house, 8 m wide and 10 m deep: living room, kitchen, WC downstairs, three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.

It makes the walls, rooms, doors, windows, a stair and a roof. You can edit all of them after.

Work with levels#

The Model panel shows each level with the items on it.

• To make a level active, click its row. New items go on the active level, and the plan view shows it.
• To add a storey above the top level, click + level.
• To change the name or floor level of a level, click ✎ on its row.
• To delete a level and everything on it, click 🗑 on its row. You can undo this.

The level list in the 3D view and the plan view also selects the active level. A second list sets how the other levels show in 3D: others: ghosted, others: shown or others: hidden. The plan view shows the walls of the level below as faint outlines, unless that level is hidden.

Add a stair#

1. Select the lower level.
2. Click Plan or Split in the main view.
3. Click + Stair in the plan view. This button shows only when there is a level above.

KerfCraft adds a straight stair up to the next level, with one corner at the centre of the plan view. The floor above gets a stairwell opening. You can drag the stair in the plan.

To change the stair, select it and edit its Parameters in Properties:

• shape: straight, L (quarter landing), U (half landing) or winder.
• turn: left or right, as you walk up.
• width, going, risers and nosing. With risers at 0, KerfCraft uses the fewest risers that give a rise of 220 mm or less and a pitch of 42° or less.
• headroom: this sets the size of the stairwell opening.
• construction: architectural shows the stair but keeps it out of the cut list. timber puts the treads, risers, strings and landings in the cut list.

Properties shows the derived sizes, for example the rise and the pitch. It shows a warning when a value is outside common UK guidance for private stairs. These checks are advisory. A timber stair does not include landing bearers, trimmers, newels or balustrades.

Add a roof#

1. Press Esc until nothing is selected. The Properties panel shows the project settings.
2. In the Roof row, click Add roof….
3. In Level, select the level that the roof sits on. The top level is the default.
4. Select the Shape and type the Pitch in degrees.
5. Click Add roof.

The fields are:

• Shape: Gable, Hip or Lean-to.
• Pitch: the angle from horizontal, in degrees. The default is 35.
• Overhang: the eaves and verge overhang past the outer wall faces. The default is 300 mm.
• Thickness: the rafters and the covering, measured square to the slope. The default is 250 mm.
• Ridge: the direction of the ridge, East–west (x) or North–south (y). The default is along the longer side.
• Ceilings: Flat keeps flat ceilings with a loft above. Sloped opens the rooms below to the roof.
• Collar: for sloped ceilings, the height of a flat ceiling across the top. Leave it empty to slope up to the ridge.

You type lengths in the display unit of the project. The roof sits on the external walls of the level, and it changes when the walls change. A roof is not in the cut list.

Change or remove a roof#

1. Select the roof in the 3D view or the Model panel.
2. In Properties, find the Roof row and click Edit roof….
3. Change the values that you need.
4. Click Apply.

To remove the roof, delete it.

Related#

• Add doors and windows
• Make drawing sheets