Sketchup Tutorial Designing for Construction

The Parts of a Wall

Everyone at a laptop follow along… Designing a Wall

102mm 6mm 1mm thick

102mm 1mm Draw a rectangle that is 1mm thick x 102mm long. PULL your rectangle up 6mm. Make a “2x4” piece of lumber.

Double check the measurements with dimension lines but then delete them. You’ll see why in a minute... 6mm 102mm 1mm

To make sure every piece of this shape stays together, draw a box around it or choose “Edit -> “Select All”, then “Edit -> “Make Group”.

You could copy and paste the first 2”x4” until you had enough for a wall, BUT, it takes a lot of time to get them all an equal distance apart. There has got to be a better way!

1. With the MOVE tool selected, hold the CTRL key down. 2. Click on the first 2”x4”. 3. Move your mouse to the right and you will see a copy of the first 2”x4”. (Make sure the copy is on the RED AXIS like the first one.) 4. Before you click to place it, type 203mm.

You now have two 2”x4”s 203mm (8 inches apart). 203mm

With the second 2”x4” still highlighted, type /12.

The /12 copies the first object makes 12 more and places them and equal distance apart! Pretty sweet, right?

Draw a flat rectangle on the bottom of all the 2”x4”s.

Use the PUSH-PULL tool to pull the bottom rectangle out 1mm.

ROTATE around to the other side and add another 2”x4” to the top of the wall. SAVE this file as “back wall your name”

Highlight everything (or select all) and go “Edit -> Make Group”. This locks it all together into one piece so it cannot be ruined!

Choose the “Rotate” tool and click on one end of the wall. Make sure the horizontal bar inside the Rotate tool is parallel with the 2”x4”.

Rotate the Rotate tool until the wide bar is now perpendicular to the 2”x4” (vertical).

The wall is now vertical! However, it is below the RED axis.

To align the wall back to the ORIGIN, select the MOVE tool and drag the bottom left corner to the ORIGIN.

Show Mr. Johns your vertical wall.

Rotate the wall back down (or UNDO)

Finished Back Wall!

Delete the three MIDDLE studs from your first wall. Re-save it with a different name.

Delete the SOLE PLATE where the door will be.

Create a HEADER that is 70mm above the ground and 6mm tall.

Design a TRIMMER STUD inside the door next to the KING STUD and beneath the HEADER. Copy and paste a second TRIMMER STUD on the other side.

Design CRIPPLE STUDS above the door HEADER too - and then space the remaining CRIPPLE STUDS as evenly as possible.

To create a window HEADER, draw a rectangle that is even with the door HEADER.

Delete all the little lines on the studs to make the HEADER stand out as one separate piece. Can you see where I missed drawing a line?

Create a window SILL 25mm below the window HEADER.

Clean up the window by deleting the unnecessary lines and the filled in spaces.

Finish the left window by inserting CRIPPLE STUDS and KING STUDS above, below, and next to the window.

It is faster to copy and paste an entire window or door structure and paste it in another location – then create a new one from scratch.

You need king studs on both sides of every window too.

Find the Windows “Snipping Tool” (START -> Search for “Snipping Tool”

Use the Snipping Tool to draw a rectangle around your wall.

Copy the wall from the Snipping Tool into Word

Re-size the wall until it is the correct height.

“Page Layout” -> “Orientation” -> “Landscape”

1.Cover the templates with waxed paper to re-use it for building multiple walls. 2.Build each wall flat and let dry before raising it and gluing it in place on floorplan.