cadvilla Support Team

How to enter and define a dormer (Shed & Flat Dormer)

In this Video-Tutorial we show you can enter and define a shed and a flat dormer in the 3D CAD house planning software cadvilla.

The basic workflow:

How to enter a shed dormer with a window construction:

  • We define the width of the dormer with the help of guidelines (“2D & Layout” – “2D Guidelines”).
  • After it we select “Building” – “Dormer” – “Shed dormer” and for example “Insert dormer with two points” (as alternative for the two points entry you can also use the function “Place dormer”, in the following dialogue you can enter the width of the dormer numerical). We enter the start and the end point of the dormer with the help of the guidelines, after it the dormer dialogue opens automatically.
  • To activate the 3D-preview window we click on the “3D” symbol. At the point “General” we can define the “Width”, the “Length distance”, the “Distance to roof side” and the “eaves cut-out”.
  • We can also select and define the following points at the left side of the dormer dialogue: Materials, Cladding, Wood construction, Wood dimensions, Rafters, Eaves details, Gable end details.
  • At the point “Dormer walls” we can define the walls of the dormer. We can select between the “Front wall”, the “Left Wall” and the “Right wall”. At the point “Properties” we can edit the thickness and the display type of each wall. At the point “Load sharing” we can choose between the functions “Wall position on ceiling” and “Wall position on roof construction”.
  • At the point “Front side” we can define the overhang and the profile type for the front side of the roof.
  • At the points “Left” and “Right” we can edit the “Pitch”, the “Height” and the “Overhang” of the roof. After we have defined all the desired parameters in the dormer dialogue we can confirm with “OK” and the dormer will be created automatically.
  • To add a window to the dormer we select “Building” – “Window”- “Window construction” – “Free positioning”. When we press the right mouse button we can select “Properties” to define the window properties. After it we position the window roughly in the 3D-view, for the exact positioning (opening direction, positioning, etc. …) we use the 2D-view. To change the opening direction of the window we select the window in the 2D-view – right mouse button – “change opening direction”. To position the window we select it also in the 2D-view and we choose the function “Move”. After it we make a right mouse click and we select the “Constructional support”. Of course we can also move the window with the help of guidelines. To display the window in the 2D-view on a white background we select the window – right mouse click – “Properties”. We choose “Top view” – “Background properties”. At the point “Fill style” we select “monochrom” and after it we select at the point “Fill colour” a white colour. Finally we press “OK”.

How to enter a flat dormer with a floor level window:

  • We define the width of the dormer with the help of guidelines (“2D & Layout” – “2D Guidelines”).
  • To select the flat dormer we choose “Building” – “Dormer” – “Flat dormer” and for example “Insert dormer with two points” (as alternative for the two points entry you can also use the function “Place dormer”, in the following dialogue you can enter the width of the dormer numerical). We enter the start and the end point of the dormer with the help of the guidelines, after it the dormer dialogue opens automatically.
  • In the dormer dialogue we edit, in the same way as at the shed dormer, the desired parameters. After it we confirm with “OK”.
  • The flat dormer is now created. To enter a window construction we select “Building” – “Window”- “Window construction” – “Free positioning”. After it we press the right mouse button, we select “Properties” to define the window properties and we confirm again with “OK”. We position the window construction again roughly in the 3D-view. We can choose now between entering and positioning the window construction in the dormer wall or in the wall of the floor below. After the entry we position the window construction again in the 2D-view in the same way as we did it at the shed dormer. Because a window only can be assigned to one wall, we have to enter a wall cut out in the dormer wall or the wall below. Therefore we select the wall in which we will create the wall cutout – right mouse button – “Create wall section”. The wall section opens automatically and we choose “Building” – “Cutout” – “Wall cutout” – “Rectangle”. Please note that the start AND the end point of the wall cutout have to be inside of the wall in which we will enter the wall cutout. That means also the cursor has to stand in the desired wall to create the wall cutout successfully. In this case the catching points are not always defined, so we recommend to zoom into the wall section to define the wall cutout correct. After it we can close the wall section and delete the section symbol in the 2D-view.

This post is also available in: German