It is going to be hard to convince you that floors are easy when an entire chapter is dedicated to this lone aspect of Revit Architecture. Well, floors are easy. The reason I’m dedicating an entire chapter to the subject is because we need to address a lot of aspects about floors.
Adding a floor to a model is quite simple indeed, but in Revit Architecture, we are truly modeling this floor. That means that you can include the structure and the finish when you create your floor. When you cut a section through this floor, you get an almost perfect representation of your floor system and how it relates to adjacent geometry, such as walls.
Floors, of course, are more than large slabs of concrete. Therefore, you’ll also be introduced to creating materials, and you’ll learn how to pitch these materials to floor drains. Further, you will examine how to create sloped slabs as well.
The first area you will explore is how to place a slab into your model. It is as simple as it sounds, but you must follow certain steps, which I outline next. As you’ve learned up to this point, in Revit Architecture you do need to add items the way Revit wants you to add them, or you will probably generate errors or, worse, inaccuracies in your model.
Creating the Slab
To begin, open the file you have been following along with. If you did not complete Chapter 5, “Dimensioning and Annotating,” go to the book’s web page at www.sybex.com/go/revit2012ner. From there you can browse to Chapter 6 and find the file called NER-17.rvt.
The objective of the following procedure is to create a floor slab to be placed into the model:
1. In your Project Browser, go to the Level 1 floor plan.
2. In the Level 1 floor plan, zoom in to the west wing.
3. On the Home tab, select the Floor button, as shown in Figure 6.1.
5. At the top-right of the dialog, you will see an Edit Type button. Click it (see Figure 6.3).
FIGURE 6.3 Clicking the Edit Type button to start creating a new floor slab type
You are now accessing the Type Properties. This means that any change you make here will affect every slab of this type in the entire model.
6. Click the Rename button, as shown in Figure 6.4.
FIGURE 6.4 Renaming the current floor type. You will never have a Generic 12˝ (300mm) floor in your model, so it is a good idea not to keep this floor type around.
7. Call it 6˝ Slab on Grade (150mm).
8. Click OK.
9. Change Function to Exterior, as shown in Figure 6.5.
10. In the Structure row, there is a long Edit button, as shown in Figure 6.5. Click it.
You are now in the Edit Assembly dialog box. This is where you can specify a thickness for your slab. You can add layers of materials here as well.
In the middle of the Edit Assembly dialog box is a large spreadsheet-type field that is divided into rows and columns. The rows are defined by a structural component, and include a boundary above and below the structure. It is the Structure row that you are interested in here:
1. You will see that the Structure row is divided into columns. Click in the Material column within the Structure row, as shown in Figure 6.6.
FIGURE 6.5 Clicking the Edit button to access the structure of the floor
FIGURE 6.6 By clicking in the Material cell within the Structure row, you can access the Materials dialog box.
2. You will see a small […] button appear when you click in the Material cell. This button indicates that you will be given a menu if selected. Click the […] button to open the Materials dialog box.
3. You can now choose a material from the menu. Scroll down until you arrive at Concrete – Cast-in-Place Concrete, and select it. Notice that to the right there are tabs. Open the Graphics tab; you can see that this material will display two different hatches. A sand hatch will be visible for floor plans, and a concrete hatch will be visible for sections (see Figure 6.7). These hatches allow a filling region to graphically designate specific materials.
4. Make sure Concrete – Cast-in-Place Concrete is selected, and click OK.
5. Back in the Edit Assembly dialog box, there is a Thickness column directly to the right of the Material column. Currently there is a value of 1´–0˝ (300mm). Click into the cell that reads 1´–0˝ (300mm), and change it to 6˝ (150mm).
6. Click OK.
7. Click OK again to get back to the model.
Now that the slab has been created, you can place it into the model. You will notice that the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab is in Sketch Mode. You will now proceed to sketch the slab in place.
Sketching the Slab
You will have to adjust to the way Revit wants you to proceed with the Create Floor Boundary tab; you are basically limited to the choices provided in this menu. Not to fear, you should have plenty of choices, but you will still need to get a “feel” for how Revit works.
Here’s what needs to happen: you must draw the perimeter of the slab into the model. Because this is basically a slab on grade, you will pour the concrete to the inside, finished face of the wall. You won’t worry about a control joint between the wall and the slab at this point.
Picking Walls
The best way to add a slab is to use the Pick Walls button as much as possible (see Figure 6.8). In doing so, you tell Revit that this edge of slab needs to move if this wall moves. Pick Walls is the default Draw option.
FIGURE 6.8 Pick Walls ensures that that edge of your slab will move if the wall moves.
Let’s start sketching the slab:
1. In the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, click the Pick Walls button, as shown in Figure 6.8, if it is not already picked.
2. With the Pick Walls tool running, hover your mouse over the inside face of the wall.
3. After the wall becomes highlighted and you are sure you are on the inside of the wall, pick it (see Figure 6.9).
FIGURE 6.9 Picking the inside face of the first wall
4. With the inside face of the wall picked, you need to move on to the next wall. Pick the inside face of the north wall.
Notice that as you pick the walls, a magenta sketch line appears on the inside face of the walls. This is another indicator telling you whether you are on the correct side of the wall. The first line will have two parallel lines, one on each side. These indicate the slab direction for structural decking.
5. Keep picking the walls, as shown in Figure 6.10. You need to have a continuous loop—no gaps and no overlaps.
6. Apply some basic modify commands as well. To clean the lower-right corner, use the Trim command. For the bottom line where the jog occurs, use the Split Element command (make sure the Delete Inner Segment button is selected on the Options bar).
7. After you have picked the perimeter of the west wing, click Finish Edit Mode on the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, as shown in Figure 6.11. It may be a good idea to check out your model in 3D after making floors just to make sure nothing went wrong. (I constantly have to do that.)
FIGURE 6.11 Clicking Finish Edit Mode to finalize the floor sketch
After you finish the floor, you will have plenty of opportunity to practice adding floors in this model! You need to add a floor to the corridor as well as the west wing:
1. Zoom in to the corridor, as shown in Figure 6.12.
2. On the Home tab, start the Floor command.
3. In the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, click the Pick Walls button.
4. Pick the three north walls of the corridor. Remember to keep the blue line to the inside face (see Figure 6.12).
5. To add the east edge of the slab, Revit will not really let you pick the wall. If you do, the magenta line will go either to the core center line or to the opposite face of the wall. At this point, click the Pick Lines button on the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, as shown in Figure 6.13.
6. Pick the face of the east wall, as shown in Figure 6.14.
FIGURE 6.12 Picking the north walls of the corridor
FIGURE 6.13 Sometimes you will need to click the Pick Lines button to select the edge of the slab. If you have to resort to this, however, the slab edge won’t move if the wall does.
FIGURE 6.14 Picking the face of the east wall. The line will run past the corridor. That’s okay. You will trim it in a moment.
7. On the Draw panel, click the Pick Walls button.
8. Pick the south corridor walls. (Remember to keep the magenta line to the inside of the corridor.)
9. Pick the west wall of the corridor. This time you want to be sure that the magenta line is to the left of the wall. This will ensure that the two slabs meet. If not, you may need to move the line manually (see Figure 6.15).
Now that you understand the process of adding sketch lines to the model, you can start to look into how to clean up the sketch so you can finish.
FIGURE 6.15 Adding the slab edge to the left side of the west corridor wall
Using Trim to Clean Up the Sketch
Now that the lines are placed, you need to make sure you don’t have any gaps or overlaps. And you do. To fix these gaps and overlaps, you will use the basic modify commands from Chapter 5.
The east wall has a giant gap at the bottom and an overlap at the top. The command you need to use here is the Trim command:
1. Pick the Trim/Extend Single Element button from the Modify panel, as shown at the top of Figure 6.16. Then click the portions of the two lines you want to keep. This will remove the excess from the corner.
2. With the corners successfully trimmed, click Finish Edit Mode.
When Revit allows you to finish the sketch, your west wing and corridor should have a slab underneath it, as shown in Figure 6.17.
FIGURE 6.16 Picking the magenta lines in the numbered order illustrated in the figure
FIGURE 6.17 The two slabs under the west wing and the corridor
It is time to add a slab under the east wing. Go ahead and try it on your own. Only look at these directions if you get lost!
1. Zoom in on the east wing.
2. On the Home tab, select the Floor button.
3. In the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, click the Pick Walls button.
4. Pick the exterior walls of the east wing.
5. Trim any gaps or overlaps that may occur in the corners. Be sure to extend the slab into the doorway, between the east wing and the corridor, as shown in Figure 6.18. Also, pay special attention to the radial entry. It can be tricky.
Now that you have a nice slab on the first floor, you need to add some more slabs to the rest of the levels. The trick with the slabs on upper levels is that they need to extend into the core of the walls. This is where Revit can get sticky. Follow along with the next section, and let’s work out this issue together.
As mentioned in the previous section, the term layer does not equate to an AutoCAD layer. It does, however, equate to layers of materials used to design a floor system. When you create a floor system in Revit Architecture, you can do it with the mind-set of how a floor is actually constructed. You can also specify which material in the floor will stop at an exterior wall and which will pass through to the core.
In this section, you will build on your experience of creating a floor. Now that the concrete slab is in place, you will start adding materials to create a floor finish.
Adding Materials
Your objective is to create a floor system with a structure and a finish material. You will also design the floor to interrupt the exterior framing, while letting the brick façade pass from grade to parapet. Let’s get started:
1. In the Project Browser, go to the Level 2 floor plan. (Remember not to go to the Level 2 ceiling plan.)
2. In the View Control bar (located at the bottom of the view window), be sure that the detail level is set to Fine.
3. On the Home tab, click the Floor button.
4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Edit Type button.
5. Click the Duplicate button.
6. Call the new floor 6˝ concrete with 1˝ Terrazzo (see Figure 6.19). For metric users, it is 150mm concrete with 25mm Terrazzo.
7. Click OK.
8. In the Structure row, click the Edit button, as shown in Figure 6.20.
You are now in the Edit Assembly dialog box, as you were in the previous procedure. The objective is to add 1˝ (25mm) terrazzo flooring to the top of the 6˝ (150mm) concrete.
Adding a Layer
Now it’s time to add the additional material. To do so, you need to understand how the Edit Assembly dialog box is broken down. Because you want to add a material to the top of the slab, you need to click above the concrete and insert a new layer, as follows:
1. In the Layers field, you will see three rows. Each of the three rows has a corresponding number. Click the number 1. This is the top row that reads Core Boundary Layers Above (see Figure 6.21).
2. Underneath the Layers field, you will see an Insert button, as shown in Figure 6.21. Click it.
FIGURE 6.20 Clicking the Edit button in the Structure row
FIGURE 6.21 Inserting a new layer for the terrazzo
3. The new layer is added. You will now see that the field is divided into columns. The first column is the Function column, which is currently set to Structure. This cell is a drop box containing the other available functions. Click the drop-box arrow and select Finish 1 [4] (see Figure 6.22).
4. Click in the Material cell for the new Layer 1.
5. Click the […] button.
6. In the Materials dialog box, select Terrazzo in the Materials list to the left. Click OK.
7. In the Thickness column, enter 1˝ (25mm). Imperial users, make sure you are typing 1 inch, and not 1 foot (see Figure 6.23).
8. To the far right of the rows in the Layers field are Variable check boxes. Click Variable for the Structure row, as shown in Figure 6.23. This will enable you to slope the top of the slab if need be. Only the layer that is set to be variable will actually slope. Any layer that is on top of this variable layer will be pitched.
FIGURE 6.23 The completed layers for the floor system
9. At the bottom of the Edit Assembly dialog box is a Preview button. Click it. After you do, you can see a graphic preview of your floor in a sectional view, as shown in Figure 6.24.
10. Click OK twice to get back to the model.
FIGURE 6.24 You can see a preview of the floor section as it is being built.
Great job. You now have a floor with a finish material on it!
With the new floor created, you can now place it into the model. Remember that you are on the second floor. When you place the slab, you want it to extend directly into the wall core. To do so, follow along:
1. Click the Pick Walls button on the Draw panel. You will pick every exterior wall in the east wing except for the radial wall.
2. Start picking walls, as shown in Figure 6.25. Do not pick the radial wall at the east entry.
FIGURE 6.25 Picking the core centerline of the exterior walls, except for the radial east wall
3. On the Draw panel, select the Line button.
4. Draw a line from the endpoint of the magenta line at the north wall of the east entry (see 1 in Figure 6.26), to the endpoint of the magenta line in the south wall (see 2 in Figure 6.26).
5. On the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, click Finish Edit Mode.
6. Revit will start asking you questions. First Revit will ask whether you want to attach the walls that go up to Level 2 to the bottom of the floor. You do want to do this; this will cut the interior walls down to meet the bottom of the floor. Any change in the floor’s thickness will alter the tops of the wall. Click Yes, as shown in Figure 6.27.
FIGURE 6.26Sketching a line for the east portion of the entry slab
FIGURE 6.27 Click Yes to attach the walls to the floor’s bottom.
7. The next message pertains to the exterior walls. Revit asks whether you would like to cut the section out of the walls where the slab is intersecting. In this case, you do, so click Yes in the message box, as shown in Figure 6.28.
FIGURE 6.28 Click Yes if you want to cut overlapping volumes out of the exterior walls.
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