When creating the subfloor

PlusSpec Community Floor Tools
1

Hi, why there isn’t an option to double up the bearer when creating the subfloor?
It would be great to specify stumps and footings in the floor joist tool also. Just to quickly create a conventional subfloor.

Thanks mate,
James

2

Hi James,

Thank you for the suggestions, I’ll take them back to the development team for further discussion. In meantime, here are some options to achieve the results you’re after.

Doubling Up Bearers
To double up the bearers, I would recommend manually duplicating them within the floor joist group using the copy-move feature of SketchUp. The steps below show the easiest way to do this. Note: This is what we call a manual change. Any manual change will be reverted if the geometry in the group is adjusted using a PlusSpec tool, so only make these changes at the end.

Steps
  1. Double click on the bearers until you can select each bearer individually.
  2. Select the bearers you want to double up whilst holding SHIFT or use a selection box (i.e. the box that appears when left-clicking & dragging the mouse). Tip: To select all bearers in the group at once, press Ctrl + A (on Windows) or Command + A (on Mac)
  3. Select the SketchUp Move Tool (press M on your keyboard) & click to start moving the bearers.
  4. Whilst moving the bearers, press Ctrl (or Command - on Mac) to activate the copy-move feature, then click to place the duplicated bearers alongside the original bearers.
  5. (If required) Select all the bearers & move them to the desired final position.

Creating Stumps & Footings
The best way to create stumps & footings is by using the :post_tool: Post/Column Tool & enabling footings (shown in the image below). The benefit of this method is that you can place the stumps & footings wherever they’re needed & can make more specific changes to each stump/footing easier (e.g. if it’s on a sloping site). The steps below show the best way to do this.

Post_Column Tool Footings

Steps

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure the floor joist are drawn first & are at the correct (position, sizes, etc.) before starting these steps as it’ll save you time.

  1. Select the :post_tool: Post/Column Tool, then select the type of footing you need & specify the other details required (the Recess Post field will only appear for timber/lumber post types). Note: You can also specify post supports.
  2. Press either the right arrow or down arrow to change the drawing point to be the top of the post, then click at the bottom-most point of the joist structure to start drawing the post & click again to draw it. Tip: The draw point sets where the post is generated from if the post details are changed (in this case the top of the post will stay at the bottom of the floor joist structure).
  3. Select the post & use the SketchUp Move Tool copy-move feature (mentioned previously) to add multiple instances of the post at the desired locations. Tip: See Copy Move Tip section below for how to easily place multiple instances of objects.
  4. Repeat previous step for all posts.
  5. If the project is on a sloping site, select each post & adjust the height to the desired height. Tip: Select multiple posts to make apply the changes to all selected posts at once.
Copy-Move Tip: Placing Multiple Instances of Objects (Arrays)

When the SketchUp Move Tool copy-move feature has been activated (by pressing Ctrl), there are two ways to place multiple instances (or an array) of the object.

After placing the first instance of the copied object (i.e. clicking a point in the model to place the object OR entering a length/distance & pressing Enter):

  1. Press the * key & enter a quantity for how many times to multiply the object at the specified spacing. Note: This is great for distributing the object at a desired spacing (final instance may need to be moved afterwards to a residual spacing).
  2. Press the / key & enter a quantity for how many times to evenly divide the object over the specified distance. Note: This is great for evenly spacing posts across verandahs, subfloor piers/stumps & more.