Creating a Covered Patio

The information in this article applies to:

QUESTION

I would like to create a covered patio area held up by columns instead of walls or railings. How can I create a roof over this type of area in Home Designer?

ANSWER

Creating a covered patio, or other outside structure which has a roof held up by columns instead of walls, is easy to create using the Room Divider tool and columns placed from the library.

To create a room without walls 

1. Launch your Home Designer software and Open  the plan in which you would like to create the covered patio.
   
   
   
2. In order to specify a roof over an area, we need to create a completely enclosed room area. Select Build> Wall> Room Divider  and click and drag out walls to completely enclose the area. 
   
   
   • We could also use Railings  and then specify each one that you place as Invisible on the General panel of their specification dialogs.
     
   
   
   
3. Once we have created a room, use the Select Objects  tool to select it, and click on the Open Object  edit tool.
   
   
   
4. Since our covered patio has a floor made up of brick, stone, or concrete, we will change the Room Type to Slab on the General panel of the Room Specification dialog, 
   
   
   
   
   
5. On the Structure panel: 
   
   
   
   
   • If you only want a roof, and do not wish to see the ceiling displayed in your patio, uncheck the Flat Ceiling Over This Room box.
     
   
   
   
6. Go to the Materials panel and set the appropriate brick, stone, concrete or other material for the Slab room's Floor Structure.
   
   
   
7. Once you have finished making changes in this dialog, click the OK button to apply and close the dialog.
   
   

To place columns

1. Select View> Library Browser  to display the Library Browser window. 
   
   
   
2. Browse to Home Designer Core Catalogs> Architectural> Millwork, then expand the Columns folder.
   
   
   
   
   • Depending on the type of column that you want, you may also want to look at the Geometric Shapes category. 
     
     
   • Browse until you locate the type of column that you want to use, select it, then click in floor plan view to place the column.
     
   
   
   
3. Using the Select Objects  tool, click the column that you placed and click on the Open Object  edit tool to display the Millwork Specification dialog. Here, the Width, Height, Depth, and Floor to Bottom values for the column as well as the materials that it has applied to it can be altered.
   
   
   • You may also find it helpful to resize the column in a Camera  view.
     
   
   
   
4. You can adjust position of the column once placed by using the Select Objects  tool to select the column, and use its center square Move edit handle to move it in to place.
   
   

   If you have difficulty placing the column precisely where you want, hold down the Ctrl/Command key while moving the object to allow for unrestricted movement. 

   
   
5. Once you have completed editing the first column, you can create identical copies by selecting the column and clicking the Copy  edit tool.
   
   
   • Click on the Sticky  edit tool to be able to Paste  multiple copies of the column without having to select Copy/Paste each time. 
   
   
   
6. Click in plan to Paste  copies of the column until you have the appropriate number of copies.
   
   
   
7. Select and move the remaining columns into place.
   
   
   
8. Take a Camera  view to see the results.